Back to the Past
by Estelle4Ever
Summary: The girls, their families, AND the Berkeleys all gather in the Wong's house. Why? To read about the book club's past. Random snippets - pages or chapters- from any one of the six books are being read. The page or chapter is my choice, but if you sent in a message or review, I can have them read the part you want. Disclaimer: I don't own Mother Daughter Book Club!
1. Prologue

**Hello!**

**I got the green light from a few reviewers, so here it is!**

**Now, this is not a 'Reading the Book' fanfiction, or even reading the whole chapter**

**Just pages or snippets of my choice- and yours, if you want.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Estelle**

* * *

Jess's P.O.V

"Reading our books?" Emma repeats, "And what is that suppose to mean?"

"What it says, sweetheart. It wasn't a coincidence that the Berkeleys, Grant and Courtney, and Theodore are all here at the same time." her mother tells her.

"This isn't a normal book club meeting is it?" Megan asks weakly, "I was wondering why all the families were here."

"Yes, and the Berkeleys should be here in a few minutes. The drive from the Colonial Inn isn't too long." Mrs. Wong checks her watch. Then she smiles, "I got them a discount to the best room. Theo and his grandmother, too. I can do that, because-"

"-you're the Mayor of Concord." Becca finishes.

As if on cue, the doorbell of Megan's house rings.

"Jerry, dear-"

"On it." Mr. Wong opens the door. I hear him greet a few people, and four different voices are heard. All with identical British accents.

Megan and Cassidy exchange a smile.

The Berkeleys walk in. There was no big greeting, since they had reached Concord 2 weeks ago. Tristan simply sat on the couch which Cassidy was leaning against from the floor. She adjusted her position so that she was leaning on his legs. Simon plopped down next to Megan, and Mr. and Mrs. Berkeley took the two-seated couch.

"I think that's everyone." Mrs. Hawthorne surveyed the Wong's enormous Living Room.

"Right." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid nods, smiling slightly at the sight of her daughter and Tristan, "Well, the Moms were having yoga class one day-"

5 groans. Tristan and Simon exchanged a puzzled glance.

"Yoga class is bad?" Simon questions.

"They always have some weird, harebrained ideas." Megan says gloomily, "That's where this club started. It's never a good sign."

"Yes, but don't you lot _enjoy_ the club?" Tristan asks curiously, "Isn't that how you met?"

"Became friends." Cassidy corrected, "We already knew each other. But Becca and Megan were a couple of those giggly, lip-gloss addicts and Emma and Jess were nerds and goody-two-shoes, and I was rude."

"I see the change in your kindness." Darcy snorts.

"Glad you noticed." Cassidy replies with heavy sarcasm.

"Can I finish?" my mother asks, "So the Moms were all at yoga - hold _on_ girls- when Phoebe comes running in, and pulls the four of us aside."

"And?"

"And, well... she showed us these books." my mother spreads six books onto the floor.

I draw in my breath. Six books, each one with a different person. I look closer. Realization hits.

"That's you!" Emma cries. As if I don't know it. "On the pink one- I'm guessing it's the first book?"

"There you are, Cass." I say, pointing to a blue book, "Number two. And Megs- number 3."

"I'm four." Emma eyes the red book, "Pies and Prejudice? Ninth grade, totally. Hey, Becca, it's you on the fifth, and Megan again on the last one."

The room is silent for a moment.

Finally, Mrs. Hawthorne speaks up again, "Each book depicts a different year of your schooling, girls, starting from grade six. The last two, however, are joint for grade 10. And each chapter rotates each person's point of view."

"I don't quite get it." Simon says.

"It's all the same story, but chapter one is told from Emma's perspective, chapter two from Megan's and so on for each of the four girls." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid explains.

"Four?" Stewart frowns, "There are five of them."

"Yes, books one to four do not contain Becca's point of view. It has hers in the last two, though."

"But... what's the _difference?_" I question.

"Well... girls, these books contain all of your _thoughts_ on whatever's going on, so-"

"Our_ thoughts?_" Cassidy's voice goes an octave higher, "But- but... that's not something we can _read_ in front of-"

"I _know_, sweetheart." her mother assures her, "But, see, we Moms already read the six books."

I exchange a puzzled glance with Becca. Emma, Megan and Cassidy look somewhat furious.

"So, we know what's going on, and since we know our daughters so well, it's obvious that we know what you'll want us to keep private." my mom tells the gathering, "So we've chosen snippets- chapters, or even just pages - from each book that we want to read aloud. Not a huge invasion of privacy, just a chance for, um..."

"Bonding, closeness, a developement of friendship, and a way to understand your peers better." Mrs. Hawthorne jumps in promptly, "Things you ought to know."

"Are we going in order?" Dylan asks, "Like first page you've chosen in the first book, second page you've chosen in the first book..."

"You know what?" Mrs. Chadwick says, "Let's not do that. Let's pick a book at random, then choose a snippet at random. Who needs order?"

"Hear, hear!" the twins and Stewart and Darcy all chorus.

"But how will we know what's going on?" I ask.

"You've lived through it, Jess. Your memory is extraordinary, I'm sure you'll cotton on." My father teases.

"What about us?" Tristan (who I just noticed is twirling a lock of red hair on his finger) gestures at his family, then points at Theo and Grant.

"You'll catch up too, I swear." Mrs. Hawthorne promises.

Mrs. Wong has a mischievous look on her face, "And you know, Tristan, Cassidy trash- talks you a lot in book four."

We laugh, and Tristan lets out a huff, "I wasn't _that_ bad."

"You _were_." Cassidy protests, "You were _horrible._"

"Not the _whole_ time!"

"No, not the whole time."

"Sounds like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy." Megan snorts, and Cassidy and Tristan both shut up.

"Anyway." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid continues, laughing, "I promise we won't completely humiliate you girls, okay? And we moms have our moments, too- not our best ones."

The other moms nod in agreement.

"So...how will we decide which snippet goes first?" Emma asks tentatively.

"We draw pieces of paper for the book, and the moms will choose the page or chapter, since we already know the contents." says Ms. Wong, who loves being organized.

"So?" my mom looks around, "Are you all ready?"

We nod, the families more enthusiastically than the daughters.

My mom holds out a bag of chits of paper to Gigi. Each one contains a name of one of the six books.

We all hold our breath as she sticks her hand inside and pulls one out.


	2. Pg 168-171 (Pies & Prejudice)

**Hey everyone!**

**Nice to see the positive reviews for my prologue, they always inspire and motivate me!**

**So, tell me what you think of this, and send me a word if you want a specific part read.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Estelle**

* * *

**Emma's P.O.V. (Reading Pies &amp; Prejudice, pg 168-171)**

"Pies &amp; Prejudice." Gigi reads out, and Tristan groans.

"So which part do we read?" I ask.

"You know what?" Gigi wrinkles her nose, "It'll be boring for us adults if we have to choose."

"So what do we do?" I ask again.

"I have an idea!" My mom pulls out a book from her huge handbag. It's not too thick, about the same size as the other books.

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Jess reads out.

"Goodness, Phoebe, where did you manage to find such a slim copy?" Mrs. Delaney questions, "And why do you have it with you now?"

"Up bridged. For a bit of light reading. Now, my snoggestion - remember that, girls?- is that we open this book to a random page, and whatever page we open is the page we read in the other book. We can adjust."

Everyone gives their approval.

Mrs. Chadwick whips out a pen and a clipboard. "I'll take down the books and pages, so we don't repeat." she announces, "And if the page is a part that we've decided not to read aloud, well, we can adjust, like Phoebe said."

"So..." Cassidy looks at my mother, "Go on, Mrs. Hawthorne."

My mother closes her eyes and opens the book, "Page 170."

"Hmmm..." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid skims through Pies &amp; Prejudice. "That would be confusing for everyone. It's not a part we've crossed out, though, so let's take it from page 168 to 171. Everybody will understand it then."

"Sure. Shannon?" Mrs. Wong says, "Would you like to read?"

"OK. And by the way, girls, each chapter has a quote from the book we're reading in our club. A quote that describes each of you, or the chapter. I'll read that out, too."

"OK, Mrs. Delaney." Becca presses, "Let's start. Who is it?"

I look around at my friends nervously.

"It's... Megan!" my mom announces.

Megan groans.

"Not to worry, Megs. It's completely alright." My mother assures her, "Go on, Shannon."

Mrs. Delaney clears her throat and begins.

"**Megan:**

**'Good apple pies are a considerable part of domestic happiness." **Mrs. Delaney reads. Then she skips to page 168, like planned.

"Ah. Girls, I guess this part starts from after when you all first gathered to make pies." Gigi tells us.

Mrs. Delaney continues:

**'Stewart heads off with our deliveries, and we go back inside to clean up. Once we're done, we pile into Cassidy's family's minivan. Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid is going to drop Cassidy at the rink first, then take us all home.**

"I think I know what's coming." Becca says, looking at Megan, who turns red.

**A few minutes later we pull into the parking lot in front of the arena, and Cassidy hops out and grabs her skating bag. As she heads inside, Mrs. Bergson pulls up alongside us.**

Everyone sobers a bit. I feel tears spring to my eyes. She should be here with us! It's so unfair!

I miss her terribly, and everything I do reminds me of her and how much she supported all of us.

I notice Tristan rubbing Cassidy's shoulder, and Stewart squeezes my hand.

After a respectful two minutes of silence, Mrs. Delaney continues.

**"I hope you have my pie in there." she says, smiling.**

**"One French silk chocolate, coming right up." says Jess, handing her a white box.**

**"Why don't you all come inside and watch for a few minutes?" Mrs. Bergson asks, after she puts the pie in her car, "You too, Clementine. I think you'll be interested to see a different side of your talented daughter."**

"I was interested." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid agrees, "It was a shock. A very pleasant shock."

Tristan does not look thrilled, "I'm not going to come across well, am I?"

Mrs. Delaney shrugs, "Probably not, sweetheart. Let me continue reading so we can see."

**We get out and follow her into the rink, then find seats in the bleachers while she goes over to where Cassidy and Tristan are lacing up their skates. The three of them stand there talking for a few minutes, and then Cassidy and Tristan head out onto the ice.**

**"What the heck is he wearing?" whispers Becca.**

Tristan groans, "Is this the Spandex Meltdown?"

"Umm..." Megan murmurs, "Yes?"

**I take out my cell phone and flip it open. "Not sure, but Fashionista Jane will definitely be interested."**

Tristan glares at Megan, who shrugs.

**Speeding around the rink, Tristan switches directions and skates backward toward us with his rear sticking out.**

Darcy snorts.

"Shut up, Ariel." Tristan snaps.

I look at him, surprised, "You know?"

"Yup." Theo says from his seat next to Becca, "Stewart made a point of telling us."

I twist around to grin at my boyfriends. He waves cheerily at my brother as Jess and Megan and Becca roar with laughter.

Even the grown ups can't hide their smiles.

"Dude, it's your girlfriend that should be called Ariel." Darcy scowls at Tristan, "She's the red-head. How do Brits say it again? Gingers."

"And yet." Tristan smiles at Darcy, "My girlfriend did not buy Little Mermaid pajamas and did not learn the music by heart."

"Back to the book!" Mrs. Chadwick barks before Darcy could retort.

**I zoom in on it and snap a picture, then slip my cell phone back into my purse.**

Megan looks guiltily at the Berkeleys, "Sorry."

Simon waves it away.

**Fashionista Jane, my alter ego, has been having a lot of fun over the past couple of months. She loves lurking the halls of Alcott High, cell phone in hand, and secretly snapping shots for her Fashion Faux Pas, as she calls them. She's blogged about other stuff, too- how to organize your closet, Accessories 101, that sort of thing. But people are especially crazy about the Fashion Faux Pas.**

"I wonder why." Jess says innocently.

"I'm glad Fashionista Jane has come out of retirement." Gigi says brightly.

"Mother!" protests.

"What? It was boring without her."

Mrs. Delaney points exaggeratedly to the book.

**Everybody at school is buzzing about Fashionista Jane's real identity, especially the people whose pictures I've posted. They're not too happy about that. I figure I'm doing them a favor, though. If they can see themselves the way we all see them, maybe they'll make better fashion choices.**

"See?" Gigi says triumphantly, "It was helpful."

**Take Tristan Berkeley, for example. Here he is, out in public wearing a blue spandex jumpsuit.**

" How did you let me miss that?" Stewart shakes his head.

"I'm an _ice-skater._" Tristan hisses.

"Cassidy wasn't wearing spandex." I point out.

"She- well... that's not the-" Tristan sputters.

"Black workout pants were OK, weren't they, Tris? Even though they weren't shiny." Cassidy grins at him.

He glares, "You're supposed to be on my side! And I'm and ice skater!"

**Sure, I know he's an ice skater.**

"See? I _know_ you're an ice skater!" Megan says.

**But still- spandex? Not only is it skin tight, it's _shiny. _Plus, he's been so rude to Cassidy I figure he has it coming.**

"I wasn't that bad." Tristan says.

"Tristan?" Cassidy cocks her head at him, "Remember our first training session?"

He reddens, "OK, maybe I could have been nicer..."

"Could have?"

He seems to struggle with himself for a second. "I wasn't that rude!"

"Of course you weren't." Cassidy rests her cheek on Tristan's knee, "You were really kind and helpful and supportive."

"Fine, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he sighs.

**Too bad he doesn't take fashion cues from her.**

"Um, what?" Mr. Wong looks at his daughter.

"Really, Jerry." Gigi said earnestly.

**I never thought I'd actually say this, but out there on the ice right now, Cassidy Sloane actually looks good.**

"Gee, thanks, Megs." Cassidy says sarcastically.

"It was an unexpectedly wonderful outfit, sweetheart." Mrs. Sloane- Kinkaid says.

**She's wearing black leggings- non-shiny, non-Spandex leggings-**

"I got the point." Tristan grumbles.

**and a black turtleneck. Simple. Chic. Stunning.**

"Simple. Chic. Stunning?" I repeat, turning to Jess and Becca and Megan.

"It was." Becca says, "I guess sometimes, simple is best."

"And on white ice, black looked really dramatic." Jess adds.

"I would say I did better than a spandex jumpsuit." Cassidy agrees.

Tristan scowls, but he doesn't argue with her.

**"Like Audrey Hepburn, only taller and with red hair." says my grandmother, nodding her approval. She elbows me, "You should put her on your blog."**

"Don't even think about it." Cassidy says lazily.

"Who's Audrey Hepburn?" my dad questions.

"A British actress and fashion icon." Gigi says promptly.

"Not to mention a fabulous humanitarian. Fact for you, Lily." Mrs. Sloane- Kinkaid adds.

"Her signature color was black." Megan finishes, "And she was very prominent during Hollywood's golden age."

The dads and guys blink.

"Riiigghhhttt." the twins chorus.

"So you're basically comparing Cassidy to." Mr. Chadwick cocks his head, "Um, an actress?"

"And fashion icon." Gigi reminds him.

"So... I'm just going to take this as a compliment and ask Mrs. Delaney to continue reading." Cassidy cuts in.

**Gigi's in on my secret. She thinks it's hilarious, and is always trying to give me ideas.**

"Mother!" Mrs. Wong exclaims, "You shouldn't have encouraged her!"

**She knows a lot of designers- she goes to Fashion Week in New York and Paris every year, and spends a lot of money on clothes-**

Megan's mom mutters something about wastage and worthy causes.

I smother a grin. But the minute my brother catches my eye, I have to let out a giggle. I hurriedly turn it into a cough.

**and her latest brainstorm is that I should host interviews with people in the fashion industry. I can't imagine any of them would want to talk to me for my blog, but as my grandmother points out, you never know until you try.**

"That's right." Cassidy's mom says, "And it's a great idea."

**Some music comes on- a waltz, I think.**

"It was a waltz." Tristan confirms.

**Cassidy moves into position beside Tristan, and he reaches around and puts his hand on her waist**

My brother lets out a whistle. Jess smacks him, and my mother glares at him, like 'Darcy, that is incredibly rude.'

Cassidy turns red, and there is the faintest blush on Tristan's cheeks, but otherwise, their faces remain expressionless.

**and the two of them skate away from where we're sitting, their feet moving in unison as they step from one foot to another in a series of graceful turns.**

"Tristan was graceful." Cassidy corrects Megan, "I was terrible."

"You were not." Tristan says, "You were starting to get the hang of it."

"What a change of heart." Theo says, and Stewart laughs.

**Then Tristan swings her around so that she's facing him, and she puts one hand on his shoulder and reaches out to clasp his free hand, and suddenly they're waltzing around the rink.**

"It was actually really nice." Becca says softly.

"Yeah. I mean, I know you all saw them at the competition in England, but that was the first time we'd seen her do anything like that." Megan explains.

**"Oh, my," says Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid. Her hand wonders up to her throat, and her eyes are bright as she watches the two of them, "Oh, my."**

Stanley looks at Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid, "What happened there, Clemmie?"

"It's just-" she shakes her head, "One minute she's made it into the boys' hockey team, and then the U16 team, and the next minute, she's figure skating. She's growing up so fast."

Cassidy mimes sticking a finger down her throat. The twins laugh loudly.

"One minute? Mrs. Sloane -Kinkaid, there was a gap of four years!" Simon says in disbelief.

Cassidy's mom shrugs, "Mothers work that way, sweetheart."

**"She's really growing up, isn't she?" says Gigi softly, patting her knee.**

"See?"

"OK, OK!" Simon holds up his hands, and we all chuckle. Megan takes his hand.

**"I thought you'd like to see this." says Mrs. Bergson, who has come over to join us. She leans against the railing, her eyes following the pair. "Her height gives her beautiful lines. She's like a thoroughbred."**

"Am I supposed to be insulted that she's comparing me to a horse?" Cassidy asks.

"Horses are awesome!" Jess cries.

"Actually." I say to answer Cassidy's question, "That's a term used for anyone who is automatically, like, ready for something. Like they were born to do it. She's saying that you got the hang of it really fast. That you're a natural."

**"She's good." says Jess.**

"Thanks, but I was just starting to get the hang of it." Cassidy adjusted her position a bit, and leaned into Tristan's leg, "The waltz is the easy part."

Tristan smiles slightly and runs his fingers through her hair.

**"She's starting to get the hang of it." says Mrs. Bergson diplomatically, "The waltz is the easy part."**

We all laugh.

"Great minds think alike, huh?" Stewart whispers in my ear.

"Like us?" I ask quietly.

"Yup." he replies.

"Great minds think alike, huh, Cass?" Courtney calls out to her sister from across the room.

Stewart and I look at each other and start to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Grant Bell asks.

"Nothing. Continue, please, Mrs. Delaney." Stewart says.

**We watch for a while longer, and then Ms. Sloane-Kinkaid reluctantly tells us she needs to get back to Chloe. After she drops Gigi and me at home, I head to my room for a nap. It's been a long day, and I want to be rested for tonight.**

"Tonight?" Simon asks, "As in?"

"Um, I think it was the movie." Megan says, looking at Becca, "Right?"

Becca nods.

**Afterward, I spend some time coming up with a suitably snarky post about Tristan Berkeley (Fashionista Jane titles it: 'Spandex Fannies? Just say 'Non'!).**

Tristan shakes his head, "I was angry for a solid week, you know?"

"I'm sorry, really I am!" Megan says, looking truly sincere.

"It's alright, I suppose." Tristan shrugs, "It's not like I was completely innocent that year either."

**Then it's time to take a shower.**

Mrs. Delaney closes the book, "That's up until where it's marked readable."

Everyone is silent for a while.

"Were you all able to catch up?" My mom asks, and there are nods all around.

"I can't believe you sent me off to deliver stuff when I could've seen that!" Stewart says grumpily.

"Don't be such a grouch, Darcy and I missed it, too." I tell my boyfriend, half-soothing, half-exasperated.

"Well, that was certainly an informative few pages for me." Darcy drawls, "And now, Tristan will never hear the end of spandex torture."

Tristan scowls. That was basically his expression throughout the entire 3 pages.

"So, does everyone gt how this will be working now?" Mrs. Wong asks.

There's a chorus of 'yes' from everyone, and then my mom pulls out the bowl with the chits of paper again.

"Hmm... Stanley, want to do the honors?" she asks.

Cassidy's step-father nods enthusiastically, and puts his hand inside.

The slight amount of tension returns to the daughters, as we exchange a glance, wondering which book will be pulled out.

Stanley withdraws his hand. He's holding a piece of paper.

He unfolds it and reads the words aloud.


	3. Pg 77-87 (Much Ado About Anne)

**Hey y'all!**

**I'm back, with yet another chapter! Hope you guys like it! Or, as Wolfgang would say, I hope you find it FABULOUS, darlings! Ha ha, I get such a kick out of imitating him. One of the quirkiest characters for sure.**

**I saw a ZILLION reviews begging for Jess and Darcy. I'm not doing one of those kissing chapters, I'm saving that for when the story is a few more chapters old, ;). But I thought it would be cute to read about when she first started crushing on him.**

**Shout out to Rebel Belle: I love your story. Keep updating, and thanks for your supportive reviews!**

**A huge thanks to all the other reviewers as well.**

**Now, without further ado... chapter 3!**

**Enjoy!**

**-Estelle**

* * *

**Megan's P.O.V. (Reading Much Ado About Anne, pg. 77-87)**

"Well?" my mom looks at Stanley Kinkaid.

"Hmmmm." he frowns at it lightly, "Much Ado About Anne, book 2."

"7th grade." Becca murmurs, and Cassidy, Emma, Jess and I nod uneasily.

Seventh grade was the biggest strain on our friendships. And also-

'It's when I met Clemmie." Stanley says, "Right? Weren't you in seventh grade then, Cass?"

Cassidy nods wordlessly.

"Well, then. Phoebe." Mrs. Delaney continues hurriedly, sensing the increased tension, "The pages?"

Mrs. Hawthorne waves her hands above The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde like a magician. Emma and Darcy both groan.

"Fine, fine." Mrs. Hawthorne grins. She opens the book and squints at the page, "Page 77."

Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid opens Much Ado About Anne to page 77. A light crease forms on her forehead, "Well, this is a bit tricky. We've crossed out the first couple of paragraphs of that page, but the last one is okay." she flips through the chapter, "But this isn't the type of thing we can leave hanging, so lets start from the third paragraph of page 77 and finish the entire chapter from there. The last page of the chapter is 87, by the way, Calliope."

Mrs. Chadwick dutifully notes it down, "Book 2, 77 to 87...3rd paragraph..." she murmurs to herself.

"Here, Grant." Cassidy's mom hands the book to her soon-to-be son-in-law, "Why don't you read. You and Theo and the Berkeleys will cotton on, this is an easily understandable chapter." she gives us daughters a stern look, "But not the chapter with your best behavior, girls."

"What does she mean?" Simon whispers to me.

I shrug, "No clue. I'll probably get it once Grant starts reading, though."

Grant Bell opens the book to page 77 and his eyes find the paragraph that has been marked, "This one, right?"

Gigi nods, peering at it, "That's the one, dear."

"Don't forget to read the quote!" Mrs. Chadwick barks.

Grant jumps and hurriedly flips to the first page of the chapter to read the quote. Becca and Stewart turn slightly red. I grin at them.

"It's...Jess." Grant announces.

Now it's Jess's turn to groan. I shoot her a knowing smile, "Welcome to my world." I say wisely.

She snorts.

Grant clears his throat and starts to read.

"**Jess:**

**'What do you do when you meet with an irresistible temptation?"**

**-Anne of Green Gables."**

"What does that have to do with the chapter?" I ask.

My mom has a cautious expression, "This is the part...this chapter...this is..." she lets out a breath and turns to Cassidy, Emma and Jess, "This is the, um, Hello Boston part."

All of us groan. The Berkeleys and Theo and Gigi and Grant look confused.

"What's so bad?" Simon asks.

"I wasn't actually a part of it." I say truthfully.

"I wasn't either." Becca pauses thoughtfully, "Well, technically, I wasn't, but kind of indirectly, I was."

"Then who did it?" Theo questions.

We all turn towards Cassidy, Emma and Jess. They shrug.

"Oh. And whose idea was it, whatever 'it' is?" Tristan asks.

All of our eyes turn to Cassidy.

"Was not!" she protested.

Tristan snorts, "Why did I even ask."

Cassidy glares at him. He smiles, though, and her expression softens slightly.

"Now, Grant, read!" Mrs. Chadwick barks, "We cannot take two hours for a chapter of a book!"

"Yes, Mrs. Chadwick." he replies nervously, and we smother our giggles.

**'You never quite know which season it is at the Sloanes', either.**

"Because of the show." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid explains.

**"Last month, the same week we filmed our Holiday Tea Party, they also filmed Mothers' Day Brunch, and Cassidy's house went from winter to spring in a matter of days.**

"Confusing." Tristan's brow furrows as he looks down at his girlfriend, "You don't like change much, do you? How did you manage?"

"To be honest, I don't know." Cassidy replies.

**There is one benefit of having your mom in charge of a cooking show, though, Cassidy says, and that's the food.**

"Figures." Becca snorts, "Remember the ornament?"

We all laugh.

"What ornament?" Courtney asks.

"Remember that progressive dinner, the New Year of our tenth grade? Cass told you about it." I say, "Well, we all chose secret santas before,and we had to give them an ornament on New Year's Eve."

"And Becca gave me a Heinz Banana Split ornament." Cassidy told her sister cheerily.

"Yup, because you eat like a horse, and never gain an ounce." Jess says.

"And I will forever find it super unfair." Becca adds, sounding half-wise and knowledgeable and half- irritated.

** She never buys lunch at the cafeteria at school anymore, and there's always tons of good stuff around when Emma and Megan and I come over to hang out.**

**I look around for Cassidy's dog, Murphy, but there's no sign of him. I figure he must have been banished to the garage or something. He's kind of excitable, and he'd be going crazy right now trying to keep an eye on everything and everybody if he were in the house. Murphy is very protective of Cassidy and Courtney and their mom.**

"That's why we love him." Courtney says to the room at large.

**Mrs. Sloane says she's planning an episode just for him, to teach viewers how to bake their own dog biscuits, because he's the one the show has been the hardest on.**

"Hmm, I never got around to doing that one." Cassidy's mom says thoughtfully, "It's a good idea, isn't it? Maybe I should schedule it for next month instead of having a rerun..."

"Um, Mom?" Cassidy says, "The book?"

**"Hey, Emma. Hey, Jess."**

**It's Stewart. He's helped himself to a homemade donut and hot cider.**

"How did you know?" Becca's brother asks.

Becca snorts.

**"Hey, Stewart." Emma replies, politely ignoring his powdered sugar mustache.**

"Oh." Stewart flushes a bit.

**He pushes his glasses up nervously, "So you're going to be on Hello Boston?"**

"Duh, Chadwick, why else were we all gathered there?" Cassidy asks.

"I was trying to make small talk!" Stewart protests.

"Well, it wasn't a very good attempt." Darcy says dismissively, "I'm surprised they didn't throw their napkins at you."

We laugh.

"I would have, if I was there." Cassidy says solemnly.

**We nod.**

**"Cool."**

**There's an awkward pause, then Becca and Megan appear.**

"Super Megan!" I intone, remembering how my mom used to want me to help save the planet. She still wishes, actually, but not too much.

"You got that right!"Gigi beams at me fondly.

**"Stewart, wipe that thing off!" snaps Becca, pointing to his upper lip, "You look like an idiot. Can't you do anything without embarrassing me?"**

There was some silence in the room.

"Rebecca Louise Chadwick!" it wasn't her mother who spoke this time. The exclamation wasn't sharp or angry, just disappointed. It had come from Becca's dad.

Becca's face was bright red, but she didn't need any encouragement to apologize. She was already feeling pretty low about how she used to act, I guess.

"Sorry, Stewart." Becca says honestly, "I didn't mean any of that. You're not embarrassing, you're a great brother. And I guess, the way I was before, _you_ should have been embarrassed by _me._"

"It's OK, Bec, it's been a while since that happened, anyway." Stewart shrugs nonchalantly.

The adults nod at this adequate apology, and Grant Bell continues reading.

**Her brother's face turns the same shade as Megan's dress. Emma hands Stewart a napkin, glaring at Becca.**

"Thanks, Em." Stewart smiles at his girlfriend. She smiles back.

"Hmm...my point of view isn't bad. It hardly has any of my private-ish thoughts." Jess observes.

**"What's gotten into you?" Becca taunts her, "Lose Waldo again?"**

"Rebecca Louise!" Mrs. Chadwick barks.

"Sorry, Emma. It was rude, I know, I shouldn't have said anything." Becca says dutifully, but sincerely.

Emma waves it off, just like Stewart had.

**"Who's Waldo?" asks Stewart, looking around.**

"Seriously?" Tristan groans.

"You've got to be kidding." agrees Simon.

"Simon!" I scold, giggling a bit, "Don't be mean."

"It's not mean, Megs, it's honest." Cassidy says earnestly.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Stewart cries.

"Dude, that's kind of the point." Darcy snickers.

**Megan tugs on Becca's sleeve, "C'mon, Becca, lay off." she says in a low voice.**

"Thanks, Megan." Emma and Jess chorus.

I grin, "No problem. Super Megan, remember?"

But in my heart of hearts, I knew I could've said more to defend them, just like back in sixth grade with Emma's journal, or the Beauty and the Beast play.

**Cassidy catches my eye and pats her pocket. I nod, suddenly glad we're going to go through with our plan.**

**"**Uh oh." Theo says, "What plan?"

"You'll find out." Mrs. Hawthorne says tiredly.

"Is this... _that_ one?" Mr. Delaney asks.

The moms nod in unison.

Courtney grins, "I love this chapter already. Go on Grant."

**"Let's go over things one more time," announces Mrs. Sloane, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. As always, she looks gorgeous.**

"Aw, thanks Jess, that's so sweet." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid says, beaming.

**She's wearing a mid-calf-length purple wool skirt, a black turtleneck, and a matching purple shawl draped artfully around her shoulders. Like my mom, she's got her hair swept up.**

I turn to Becca, and it's clear that we're thinking the same thing : _What an outfit._

Cassidy's mom has an amazing fashion sense.

I say as much to Simon, quietly so no one else hears, and he chuckles, "I'm not the expert, Megan, so I'll agree with you."

I roll my eyes, but feel really happy. That is how Simon always makes me feel.

**Out of the corner of my eye, I see Megan studying her. She's probably wishing she had her sketchbook right now. Mrs. Sloane is her fashion idol.**

"Oh, Megan, I'm really glad I inspire you!" Cassidy's mom gushes.

I smile.

**"We'll be filming in the living room in just a few minutes." Mrs. Sloane continues, "Those of you who are here to watch us are welcome to do so, but from the hallway only please. We need to keep the room clear for the Channel 5 folks." She smiles at her friend Mr. Kinkaid, who's standing with the dads, and he smiles back.**

**She checks her watch, then gestures towards the counter-top where the food is waiting. "We'll be taking our places in just a few minutes, but until then, help yourself!"**

Cassidy sighs longingly. So do I, actually. I mean, come on, I remember all that food- it was amazing.

Cassidy looks at me, surprised, and I grin sheepishly, "What? I can be hungry!"

**I glance over at Darcy. He winks at me and my heart gives a happy flutter.**

"Awwww!" the moms chorus.

Jess turns bright red and twists to look at Darcy. He has this huge grin on his face. I can tell he's going to enjoy this as much as Jess isn't.

Tristan whispers something to Cassidy. She laughs softly and shakes her head.

** I've known Emma's big brother forever, but about a year ago it was like I noticed him for the first time.**

"That sounds so poetic and beautiful!" Simon's mother says dreamily.

"Not something I would know much about." Mr. Hawthorne says, pulling out a mini notebook, "But I think that line has a spot in one of my novels."

Jess's face is beet red. I grin at her sympathetically.

Darcy has this look that's a cross between smugness, amusement, and dreaminess.

**I always thought he was really nice,**

"Thanks, Jess." Darcy says brightly. Jess scowls.

**but I never realized how cute he was, too.**

"Aren't I?" Darcy asks cheerfully.

"And very modest." Cassidy says seriously. I snort.

Jess turns redder and buries her face in her hands.

Mr. and Mrs. Delaney exchange a fleeting smile, and Grant continues to read.

** He's got the warmest brown eyes,**

"Oooohhhh!" the twins chorus, half-sarcastically and half-teasingly.

"They're a Hawthorne heirloom feature." Emma's dad boasts.

**just like Emma's,**

"See?" Mr. Hawthorne added, as if anybody doubted him.

"Y'know, Nick, nobody argued with you there." Mr. Wong pointed out.

**and he's always laughing and joking around.**

"Yeah, that part of you is OK." Cassidy grants.

"What about my helpfulness? Pip, the boys' hockey team...?"

"Fine, and that, too."

**Plus he's thoughtful and polite and smart too.**

"Thanks, Jess." Darcy says again, giving Jess a sincere smile.

She returns it, still red from embarrassment.

As Grant continues reading and everyone's attention is turned back to the book, I see Darcy lean in, quick as lightning, and brush Jess's lips with his. I smile.

**Well, most of the time. Except when he's doing dumb gross boy stuff.**

All the grown-ups laugh.

"Dumb gross boys stuff!" Jess's little brothers chorus gleefully.

"I remember when Tristan and Simon went through that stage." Mrs. Berkeley says wearily, "And they would manage to finish the entire family's dinner between each other. They're very close in age, you know, so I had it double tough." she turns to Jess's mother, "And I would say you have it _thrice_ as hard, even though there are only two of them."

"Hey!" Dylan -or maybe Ryan- says indignantly.

Simon's mother laughs, "You both are delightful to be around."

I grin at Simon. He smiles sheepishly, "Well, it's not like I can help it, you know."

I giggle and kiss his cheek quickly, "I know."

**Emma thinks it's hilarious that I've gotten all tongue-tied around him.**

"It's just Darcy." Emma says. Becca and I exchange a glance.

Becca used to flirt with him like crazy. I wonder if we're going to read one of those parts later. For her sake, I hope not.

**"It's just Darcy." she always says, and I know it's true, but I can't help it. She doesn't bug me too much, though, just like I never tease her about Zach Norton.**

Stewart scowls, "That Zach kid, there's something kind of...you know, fishy, about him..."

"I know." Tristan nods irritably, "I don't like him."

"He's not bad, he's a good friend of mine!" Simon protests, "You both liked him at my party!"

"Well, I don't like him anymore." Tristan says, "He's too clingy."

Emma and Cassidy exchange one glance and burst out laughing.

"He is." Stewart persisted.

"Whatever." Cassidy rolls her eyes. She tugs on Tristan's pant leg, "You got along at Simon's party."

Tristan glares at the coffee table, "Well, I've changed my mind."

"I wonder why." Becca says under her breath, and Simon and Theo snicker.

**We keep each other's secrets. That's what best friends are for.**

"True that." Becca says to me.

I nod, too. Becca and I keep each others secrets. I can let my guard down with Becca.

**Out of the blue I realize that I'm thinking about math, of all things.**

"Really, Delaney?" Cassidy asks incredulously, "You're thinking about _math_?"

**_The shortest distance between two points is a straight line._**

"That's an interesting thought to get out of the blue." Stanley says thoughtfully.

**It occurs to me that this is probably true for people, too. I take a deep breath and start to walk across the kitchen towards Darcy.**

"Run, Jess, run!" Theo and Simon and Stewart and Tristan encourage.

We laugh. Becca, however, does not.

"What's wrong?" I whisper.

"You'll see." she whispers back, looking a bit pale.

**Just as I do, Becca Chadwick brushes past me and beats me to him.**

"Oh." I say.

"I thought you liked that Norton boy, too, at that time?" Theo asks her.

She flushes, "Um, well..."

**"Hi, Darcy." she coos, batting her eyelashes.**

The guys look amused. Becca looks about ready to puke.

Emma and Jess and Cassidy look revolted.

"Rebecca Louise!" Mrs. Chadwick barks, "You must be yourself all the time!"

**"Oh, hey, Becca." he says politely, then glancing over at me, "Hey, Jess."**

**"Hey." I reply.**

**Becca ignores me, of course. "How's high school?" she asks, in that fake voice she uses when boys are around.**

Theo eyes her.

"Not you." she assures him, "Actually, no one anymore."

**"Great!" Darcy replies.**

**I just stand there feeling stupid as the two of them start talking. All of a sudden, my dress seems babyish and I wish I'd done something different with my hair, rather than pull it back into its usual braid.**

"You looked great that day." Becca tells Jess.

**In her plaid taffeta skirt and black V-neck sweater, Becca looks perfect, of course.**

"I do not." Becca says quietly. She clearly feels horrible right now. I wonder if we're going to read about when I was part of the Fab Four.

I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. What would Simon and Gigi say to how I used to act?

**The Fab Three always look perfect. Maybe if I spent ninety-seven hours a day trying on makeup and looking through fashion magazines, I'd look perfect, too.**

"You do always look perfect." Darcy says firmly, "You look beautiful no matter what."

Jess blushes.

**I back away slowly, right into Carson Dawson, the host of _Hello Boston!_**

**"Whoa there, little lady," he says," better check your rear-view mirror when you're driving!" he chuckles at his little joke**

"That was a joke?" Cassidy asks in disbelief.

"I'm about as lost as you are, Cass." Grant says, checking the book exaggeratedly. He and Cassidy shake their heads mournfully.

"Some people are just not funny." Cassidy says.

**\- Carson Dawson is known for chuckling at his own jokes- and I notice that he's a lot shorter than he looks on TV. Not much taller than me, in fact. He's older,too. Up close like this, I can see the wrinkles under his tan. I also notice that he has an abundance of teeth. Very white teeth. He's bearing them at me in his trademark smile.**

Whoever was there when the teeth came out try not to look at each other.

"What's so funny?" Gigi asks me.

"You'll see." I manage to say without laughing.

**"Pardon me." I manage to squeak.**

**He chuckles again and trots off towards the living room.**

**"Girls!" says Cassidy's mother, "We need you on the set. Five minutes till liftoff."**

**I follow her down the hall, my heart thumping again. Part of me hopes Darcy isn't going to watch us filming, part of me hopes he is.**

"I did." Darcy says.

'I know." Jess rolls her eyes.

** We pick our way carefully over the camera cables to where the couch and chairs are grouped towards the coffee table. At the far end is one of the three-tiered tea trays we used when we filmed the tea party. It's piled with the same goodies, too- tiny little cucumber sandwiches with he crusts cut off, mini cupcakes, scones with Devonshire cream and Half Moon Farm raspberry jam, crackers spread with goat cheese, little tarts filled with lemon mousse, truffles and homemade cream puffs with chocolate sauce. My stomach rumbles. I was feeling too anxious to eat breakfast earlier, but now despite my jangling nerves, I'm actually hungry.**

"How can anyone not be hungry?" Cassidy asks.

**Mrs. Chadwick is already seated on the sofa next to Carson Dawson. he must have gotten into the cream puffs or truffles because there's a smear of chocolate on one side of her mouth. An assistant spots it and hands her a tissue.**

Cassidy snorts quietly. Becca glares at her.

**"Becca will sit here next to me." Mrs. Chadwick announces, as if this were her party and she were the hostess.**

"I really must apologize, Clementine." Mrs. Chadwick says, "Rebecca and I were both completely out of line."

"It's nothing, Calliope." Cassidy's mom says nonchalantly, "We all have our bad times."

**Mrs. Sloane's smile looks a little strained, "Actually, Calliope, I'm going to have to ask you to move over here to this armchair." She pats it encouragingly,"I'll need to sit next to Mr. Dawson as he'll be directing most of his questions at me."**

**Mrs. Chadwick looks displeased to hear this. She's used to being the boss.**

"Basically." Becca's mom says, "I have a natural leadership ability."

"You got that right." I hear Cassidy mutter to Tristan.

He smothers a grin and rests his chin on top of her head.

**She's sort of like the queen bee of Concord. I guess that's where Becca gets it.**

"You guessed right." Stewart says, "I'm more like Dad, y'know. We're the quiet folks."

"Yes, we are." Mr. Chadwick confirms.

Becca and her mother send Stewart and Mr. Chadwick identical glares. Everyone else explodes in laughter.

**She heaves herself reluctantly off the sofa and into the designated armchair.**

**"Two minutes!" calls one of the Channel 5 camera crew. The dads and brothers crowd around the doorway, jostling for a good view. Mr. Kinkaid blows Cassidy's mom a kiss, then gives Cassidy a thumbs-up. She scowls at him.**

Everyone turns to Cassidy. She looks sheepish, but guilty, "Sorry Stanley."

"It's nothing." Stanley shrugs.

**As we all take our assigned seats, Courtney comes in with a silver tray. On it is a large silver tea pot and eleven teacups. She sets it down in the middle of the coffee table and places a teacup in front of each of us. Cassidy sits up straight, on full alert.**

"Why?" Tristan and Simon chorus.

"It's a long story." I say wisely.

"And it will explain." Cassidy gestures to the book.

**Beside me, Emma's knee starts jouncing up and down and she flicks me a nervous glance. Cassidy, on the other hand, isn't the least bit nervous.**

"Of course not." her mother sighs.

**Her face is alight with excitement. There's nothing Cassidy likes better than a good prank.**

Tristan whispers something in her ear.

Cassidy scowls and replies something, but I can't hear what she says. Whatever it is, it makes Tristan laugh and say something about Annabelle. I'm going to have to ask Cassidy later.

**I have no idea how she's going to pull this one off, though. Not with a room full of people watching our every move.**

"That's a good point." Mrs. Chadwicks eyes narrow, "How did you manage it?"

Cassidy, Emma and Jess point weakly at the book.

**"Ninety seconds!" calls the cameraman.**

**My palms are sweaty. I'm smiling my fake smile so hard the muscles in my cheek are twitching. I don't dare look at Darcy.**

"Why?" Darcy asks.

Jess shrugs, "I looked weird, panicking and sweaty."

"You looked amazing." Darcy corrected her.

**Beside me, I see Cassidy slip the garage door opener out from behind one of the couch pillows and drop her arm casually over the back of the sofa.**

The adults stared at one another in disbelief.

"No way." Stewart and Darcy said together, looking at Cassidy, "That's it?"

"You'll see. Read, Grant." she replies.

**She aims it at the window and pushes the button. Outside, there's a rumbling sound as the garage door starts to go up.**

"But wasn't your dog in the garage?" Tristan asks the Sloanes.

Cassidy nodded. Theo, Tristan and Simon blink at each other, then burst out laughing.

**Two seconds later Murphy hurtles through the front door, barking wildly at all the strangers in his house.**

**"What is that dog doing in here!" cries Carson Dawson, "Get him off the set!"**

**"Murphy, you naughty boy, how did you get out?" scolds Mrs. Sloane, "Courtney- grab him and put him back into the garage- quick!"**

**Courtney springs into action.**

"All right!" Courtney cheers, "Watch how it's done, ladies and gents!"

**Darcy and Stewart Chadwick are right behind her.**

Stewart and Darcy slap each other a high-five.

"And we join the action!" Darcy crows, "Watch and learn!"

"I am a rescuing machine!" Becca's brother brags, "Grace and strength is what it takes."

**Stewart trips over one of the cables and goes sprawling,**

Everyone snorts.

"Yeah, I see the grace, mate." Tristan says sarcastically.

"We were better." Darcy gestures at himself and Courtney.

I frown. If I remember correctly, they bumped into each other and made everything worse.

**startling Murphy, who duck under the coffee table. In their haste to grab him, Courtney and Darcy collide, and they go sprawling, too.**

We all turn to Darcy and Courtney.

"Well, we tried." Cassidy's sister shrugs.

"And failed." Theo adds.

Courtney and Darcy scowl. Jess pats Darcy's shoulder, clearly trying not to laugh.

**In all the confusion, I see Cassidy remove the something from her pocket that I gave her earlier. Quick as lightning, she pours a few drops from it into Becca's teacup. Then just as quickly she puts it back into her pocket. She looks over at me and Emma and grins.**

A stunned silence falls over the room. I'm just as shocked as the rest of them.

That made it sound so _easy_, but it was pretty daring.

"Cassidy..." Tristan says faintly, "You didn't..."

"I did." Cassidy says smugly.

"Thank god I didn't drink it!" Becca exclaims, her face growing panicked at the thought.

**I lean over and peek into Becca's teacup. There's nothing to see- the few drops Cassidy added are colorless. We left the blue food coloring out this time. Suddenly it strikes me how funny it would be if there really _were_ such a thing as an invisibility potion, and Becca Chadwick vanished- _poof!_\- right in the middle of _Hello Boston!_**

"That would be somewhat amusing, but also rather controversial." Simon says.

I stare at him, "Um, what?"

"Quite right." Tristan agrees, "Nobody would so much as trust the recipes, it would be a down-rate for the show."

"Guys." Jess leans towards the Berkeley brothers, "I hate to break it to you, but that was a_ joke_."

Simon shrugs, "Still."

"That's what happens when your father is a history professor." Tristan explains.

"Now, don't just go blaming this on me, lads!" Mr. Berkeley says jokingly.

**I start to giggle. So do Emma and Cassidy. Megan gives us a funny look.**

"I kind of felt a bit left out, you know." I shrug, remembering the time. I had just fit in with them, and then I was left out of he loophole all over again. Even though I totally understood why they didn't say anything.

**Fortunately, everyone else is laughing at Murphy- everyone except Mr. Dawson, who is still looking annoyed- so no one notices us.**

**"Ten seconds!" cries his assistant, as the Sloanes' dog is finally corralled and whisked back to exile in the garage.**

**The lights on the camera go from red to green, and the expression from Carson Dawson's face goes from irritation to toothsome enthusiasm.**

"That's a good way to describe it." Emma and Mr. Hawthorne both make notes in their little notebooks.

"You have nice thoughts, Jess." Emma adds as an afterthought.

**"And action!" says the Channel 5 cameraman.**

**"Hellooooooooo, Boston!" calls Carson Dawson, launching into the show's trademark opening cry, "And greetings from the set of _Cooking with_ _Clementine_. I'm here live this morning with the lovely Sloane in her lovely home in Concord, Massachusetts, where today's upcoming episode was filmed. Isn't that right, Clementine?"**

**"That's right, Carson," Mrs. Sloane responds, right on cue, "We have something special for our viewers later this morning."**

**"And what's that, Clementine?"**

**"It's a mother-daughter holiday tea, Carson. We've made all sorts of goodies-" she waves her manicured hand gracefully towards the tiered trays, and the cameras zoom in on the food-"and we'll show you how you can create an elegant tea party of your own, from the homemade invitations to the homemade treats."**

**"Sounds like good old-fashioned homemade fun!" gushes Carson Dawson, with a chuckle, "Be sure and stay tuned."**

**Mrs. Sloane is casually pouring out the tea as she talks, but before she can serve it like we rehearsed, Carson Dawson reaches out and grabs a teacup.**

"And thennn" Ryan- or Dylan, possibly- intones.

** And not just any teacup.**

"The tragedy!" The other twin finishes.

Theo sighs, "Let me guess."

**He grabs Becca Cadwick's teacup.**

"Yay!" Becca cheers softly, and I give her a rueful grin.

Everyone else groans at the misfortune of Carson Dawson.

"It _is_ a good thing you didn't drink it, Bec." Stewart says.

**Beside me, Emma sucks in her breath. Cassidy groans quietly. Her mother gives her a sharp look.**

**"One lump, or two?" she asks, holding the sugar tongs poised above the bowl.**

**"Two," Carson Dawson replies.**

**Two lumps won't even begin to counteract the garlic-laced invisibility potion. My heart starts pounding again, and it's not just my palms that are sweating now.**

"Nothing would have counteracted it." Emma says.

"What was in it?" Stewart asks.

"Um, cinnamon, garlic, peppermint, and a few other stuff." Jess says, frowning in concentration, "I'll get back to you on it, because I could be wrong."

**"I'd like to introduce some of the guests you'll be seeing later this morning at our tea party," Mrs. Sloane continues, naming each of us by turn as she dispenses sugar and milk into our cups. Becca gives a close-lip smile, hiding her braces from the camera.**

We laugh, and Becca glares at us, "Shut up!"

"Sorry, Bec." I say, still smiling.

**Emma looks like she's going to cry,**

**"**I did not!" Emma says defensively.

"Hate to break it to you, Em, but you kind of did." Darcy ruffles his sister's hair.

Emma scowls.

**and even Cassidy's normally cocky grin is a little uncertain.**

"Normally cocky? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Cassidy turns to Jess.

But it's Emma who answers, naturally, "It means confident or conceited in a bold and cheeky way."

Cassidy processes this. "Um, English, please?" she finally asks.

"It means cheeky and bold and confident." Jess says.

"Um, okay, then."

**"I have to tell you, I'm hearing good things about_ Cooking With Clementine."_ says Carson Dawson, "Word is that yours is the hottest new show on the Cooking Channel."**

**Mrs. Sloane smiles modestly, "Well, Carson, it might be a little premature to call it that since only a handful of episodes have aired. And I'd hardly call it_ my_ show- I have a lot of help from my colleagues here. Phoebe Hawthorne, our town librarian, is in charge of research, and Lily Wong consults our ingredients."**

"You've all been great helps." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid says, "You too, Shannon. And Calliope, you are a fabulous gardening consultant."

The moms have their emotional moment, and the dads pat their backs. I hear murmurs of 'great idea' and 'yoga class' and 'friends for life' and 'wonderful choice to stay in' and other sniffs about how we've formed a family come out of our mothers.

We 'kids' sit and stare and roll our eyes, even though I think we all secretly agree with our moms.

**Megan's mother pipes up, "I'd like to add that it's entirely possible to create a healthy tea party."**

I groan, "Mo-om!"

"What?" my other protests, "It's true."

"Yes, Lily, I'm sure it is." My dad says soothingly.

Gigi and I grin at each other.

**"Is that right?" murmurs Mr. Dawson, eyeing the goodies on the tea tray greedily. He chooses a lemon tart from the middle tier, and my mind I start reviewing everything I know about chemistry, desperately hoping that citric acid will cancel out garlic. Maybe the lemons will save us.**

"I don't think so." Stewart says seriously.

Becca shoves him, "Dork! This already _happened_!"

**"All you need to do is select fresh, organic ingredients, which as you know, _Cooking With Clementine_ is devoted to using."**

I squelch a laugh. _Cooking With Clementine_ uses organic food whenever they can, but they draw the line at flax-seed oil and kale and using spinach to moisten banana bread instead of blueberries.

**"Is that right?" the host repeats, clearly more interested in his lemon tart than in Mrs. Wong.**

My mom grumbles incessantly, "No manners at all, that man, just talk!"

**He takes a bite, "Mmmmmm," he says, raising his cup.**

**Emma reaches over and clutches my hand. I squeeze back, hard.**

**Carson Dawson pauses. Hope soars inside me. Maybe he's not going to drink it after all.**

Cassidy sighs, "But no such luck."

**No such luck.**

Cassidy slaps Jess a high-five.

**"Bottoms up!" he says, winking at the camera, "Or since this is a proper tea part, perhaps I should say 'Tally ho'?" He chuckles at his little joke,**

"Oh, goodness, that one was even worse than the first." Tristan sighs.

"Tell me about it." Cassidy agrees.

** then puts the cup to his lips and takes a deep sip. So does everyone else except me and Emma and Cassidy. We're too busy holding our breaths.**

"But the outcome wouldn't be terrible." Simon points out.

Theo nods, "If he coughs, you should have just tided over with, like, saying he swallowed too fast, then pour him another cup or something."

I exchange a glance with Courtney, "That was the problem."

"What was?" Grant asks. He scans the rest of the page and a huge grin forms on his face.

"What?" Tristan presses.

'Wait and see."

**Carspn Dawson sets his teacup down with a clatter. He presses his lips together tightly, and his cheeks bulge out like he's trying to suppress and explosion. His face turns bright purple with the effort. His eyes start to water. Then all of a sudden he leans forward and coughs violently, spewing tea across the table and all over the front of Mrs. Chadwick green dress.**

"And a very expensive one, too!" Mrs. Chadwick says irritably, "Didn't even offer to pay for the dry cleaning!"

"Well, Calliope." Mrs. Hawthorne says dryly, "I'm sure he had other worries."

"Like?" Theo, Simon and Tristan chorus. The Berkeley parents and Gigi look puzzled, too.

**"Well, I never!" sputters Mrs. Chadwick.**

**"Oh, my." says Mrs. Sloane weakly.**

**"Cut!" cries the Channel 5 cameraman.**

**For a long moment, no one says a word. Not even Carson Dawson.**

"Why?" Tristan asks, "I tend to explode when I feel annoyed."

"I know from first-hand experience." Cassidy informs him.

He bites his lip, "Right."

"It's fine." Cassidy assures him.

**He can't.**

"Why?" Gigi asks.

**Nestled in the cream puffs, grinning to themselves, are a gleaming set of very abundant, perfectly white teeth.**

There is another stunned silence.

"Oh my goodness!" my grandmother finally breaks it, "You have got to be kidding!"

"You mean all those episodes, when he smiled- they were- they were _dentures_?!" Mrs. Berkeley exclaims.

We nod, howling with laughter.

Theo and Tristan and Simon exchange one glance and then they're in peels of laughter, too. The adults quickly join in.

"What happens next?" Simon finally gasps.

"That's the end of the chapter." Grant puts the book back on the table.

"That chapter was epic!" Theo says.

"Too right, it was." Tristan agrees, flushed from laughter.

"Except for my stupid thoughts." Jess grumbles.

"I thought they were cute!" Darcy protests.

I chuckle.

Mrs. Hawthorne pulls out the bowl with the chits of paper again, "On to the next one?"

"Really, Phoebe, we should have a break!" Mrs. Chadwick blusters.

"Hmmm." Mrs. Hawthorne purses her lips thoughtfully, "Let's read one more snippet, then take a half-an hour break to discuss and eat and calm down or whatever we want to do. Then we'll continue. It's only 1:15, after all. What do you say?"

We all nod in approval, even Mrs. Chadwick.

"Then, here we go." Emma's mom holds out the bowl to my dad, "Jerry? Want to do the honors?"

"You bet!" my dad says enthusiastically.

He sticks his hand inside and rummages around dramatically, even though there are only six little slips.

He finally withdraws one.

Cue the return of tension among the daughters.

He unfolds the piece of paper and opens his mouth to read the words aloud.


	4. Pg 324-330 (Dear Pen Pal)

**And I'm back!**

**I hope you all liked my one-shot, Over Five Years.**

**Sorry it took so long to update this, but I've been busy.**

**This was requested by a Guest, and it's a wonderful idea. So thank you!**

**Enjoy!**

**-Estelle**

* * *

**Cassidy's P.O.V. (Reading Dear Pen Pal, pg 324-330_ )**

"And the book we are going to read is...!" Mr. Wong pauses dramatically.

"Dad!" Megan whines, at the same time Mrs. Wong says, "Jerry, quick!"

We laugh, but soon fall silent as Megan's dad cleared his throat.

"Dear Pen Pal, book THREE!"

There is some silence as we all process this.

"Eighth grade." Jess finally says, "My first year at Colonial."

"And when I came to live with you all." Gigi adds.

"And my first actual year in book club." Becca says.

"And." My stomach gives an unpleasant lurch, "And when you were expecting Chloe, Mom."

I really don't want to go back to my thoughts on that.

"It won't be that bad." Tristan says consolingly.

I scowl at him. He doesn't flinch. That is one of the many things I like about Tristan. He never backs down just because I give him one fierce look.

My mom and Stanley exchange a glance at this prospect.

The Wongs look nervous as well.

Emma lets out a breath, "Mom? Pages?"

"Yes, yes..." Mrs. Hawthorne fumbles with her book. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

She runs her fingernail along the thickness of the pages, closing her eyes. Then, she randomly pulls it open to what is towards the end of the book. Not the very end, but not the middle, either.

"Hmmm. Who has Dear Pen Pal?" Emma's mom asks.

"Me." Darcy replies, passing it to my mom, "Now Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid."

"Okay, then, Clementine." Mrs. Hawthorne shows her the page number, "Page 328."

My mom opens the purple book that has Megan on the cover.

"Oh, this page is smack dab in the middle of this chapter. Not only that, but its like one of those pages that bridges together two plots in one chapter." My mom frowns in concentration.

The other moms peer over her shoulder. Identical mischievous smiles form on their faces.

"Uh-oh." I mutter to Becca, who nods fervently.

"We haven't crossed much out from this chapter." Mrs. Delaney informs us. She shields the book from the rest of us, "Phoebe? Here to.." she flips through a few pages, "Here?"

"Sounds good." Mrs. Hawthorne agrees, "Are you ready for a bit of humor, girls?"

"No." I snap.

"Cassidy!" my mother warns.

I heave a dramatic sigh, "Sorry, Mrs. H."

Mrs. Hawthorne laughs, "No harm done, Cassidy. Who would like to read?"

"Oooh, can I?" Mrs. Wong asks.

"Here you go, Lily." Jess's mom passes her the book.

"What are the pages again?" Mrs. Chadwick asks, her pen and clipboard in place.

Mrs. Wong checks the book, "Um, from the second paragraph in page 324 to the last paragraph in page 330."

"Right." Mrs. Chadwick notes it down, "And whose point of view?"

_Not mine, not mine, not mine._ I silently plead.

"Emma!" Mrs. Wong announces.

Emma looks horrified.

"Chill, it's not that bad." Megan soothes, "It'll be OK."

Emma shrugs, still looking unconvinced.

"It happens to the best of us." Jess assures her, "Mine wasn't too awful, was it? And what about Megan's? It just talked about Cassidy and Fashionista Jane."

"It depends on what the pages hold." Mr. Hawthorne says, making another note in his pocket book, "This reading session is going to be the reason for my next novel. I'm getting a lot of good phrases from here."

"Start, start, start, start!" the twins chant.

"Boys!" Mrs. Delaney scolds.

"Ok, so..." Courtney looks around, "This is the last chapter before break, right?"

"Of course." Mrs. Chadwick barks, "You can't expect us to keep reading, you know."

"Um, right. Sorry." My sister says.

"Alright, Mrs. Wong." Simon nods, "Shall we get started?"

"Don't forget the quote!" Becca's mother reminds.

I snort as Stewart and Becca go red.

Mrs. Wong opens to the page with the quote and opens her mouth to begin reading.

**'Emma:**

**'This summer I'm going to write and write and write and begin to be a great author.'**

**-Daddy Long Legs**

"That sums up Emma, all right." Jess grins at her best friend.

Emma laughs, "I hope so. Except I like to write all the time, not just in summer."

"Girls, we need to start the actual reading!" Mrs. Chadwick says sternly.

Of course, Mrs. Wong dutifully turns to page 324. Her eyes search for the starting passage. She finds it and clears her throat to begin reading again.

**'I gaze down at the stone bench, tracing my finger over its surface. The cool smoothness of the marble is pocked by decades, maybe centuries of raindrops.**

"You have really poetic thoughts, Em." Darcy says.

Emma shrugs.

** The wind whispers again in the willow branches****.**

"Perfect!" Mr. Hawthorne exclaims, making a note in his little notepad.

'Um, what?" Becca peers over the top of the notebook.

Mr. Hawthorne shrugs, still looking extremely excited.

** There's absolutely nobody around.**

"What were you doing at the Cemetery alone, Emma?" I ask her.

She stares at the book for a couple of minutes, then at the position of the pages in the book, "Eight grade?"

Megan nods.

"Um...I don't think I was alone...?" she says it more like a question.

_**This is it,**_** I think, my heart beating faster as I realize that Stewart planned this.**

Stewart groans, looking one hundred percent doomed.

"Ooooh, what did you plan, Chadwick?" Theo asks teasingly.

"I completely goofed up here." Stewart says before anyone else can join in.

"Don't you always?" Tristan asks brightly, and I suppress my laughter.

"Hey!" Emma says indignantly, "He does not always goof up!"

"Yeah, it's just once in a while!" Stewart adds defensively. Simon snorts, then hurriedly turns it into a cough.

"Hey, you said it, man, not us." Darcy grins.

** That's why he sounded nervous when he brought me here. I take my glasses of and tuck them in my pocket so I'm ready.**

"OOOHHHH!" the twins chorus loudly.

"Dylan and Ryan Delaney!" Mrs. Delaney snaps.

"Sorry, mom."

**Stewart leans towards me slightly. He smells good, like toothpaste and aftershave, or maybe it's his deodorant because I'm not sure he shaves much yet. I lean towards him, too, and then he puts his arms around me and I'm nervous and embarrassed but thrilled that it's finally happening, that he's finally going to kiss me.**

"Did he?" Becca asks in surprise, "I didn't know you had it in you when you were in, what, tenth grade?"

"He said he goofed up." I remind Becca with a grin.

"Oh, yeah." Becca doesn't sound too surprised anymore.

**I close my eyes and lift my face towards his, and the next thing I know, I feel his lips**

"Alright, Chadwick!" Theo crows, "Score!"

"Not bad, mate." Tristan sounds slightly impressed, but mostly incredulous.

I tilt my head up to gauge his expression. He grins at me lightly, and resumes the twirling of my hair on his fingers.

I have to stop myself from sighing in contentment because my mom and sister and Gigi are watching me and it would be completely humiliating and I'd never live it down. Ever.

"Impressive." Simon agrees, "See? You didn't completely mess up."

"Wait and watch." Emma says laughingly.

**\- on my forehead.**

The bravado in the air quickly fades away. I swear, even _I'm_ gaping at the book.

Sure, Tristan was a bit nervous when he kissed me at Chawton, but he _did_ it. And well, too.

He did not back out and peck my forehead.

There is obviously some sort of printing mistake.

_**My forehead?**_

"There's no printing mistake." Megan says faintly.

All eyes turn towards Stewart. He turns a bright, bright red.

"Cut me some slack! I was nervous!" Stewart snapped.

"We were all nervous before we kissed the girl, dude, but we did not back out and kiss her forehead instead." Theo says.

"That is somewhat rude." Simon adds earnestly, "You clearly got her hopes up. She's just kind enough to not have slugged you."

We all laugh at that.

"I was going to do it!' Stewart whines.

"But you didn't." Tristan says, sounding as though Christmas's come early or something.

"And that is the point." Darcy finishes with a flourish.

Becca pats Emma's back consolingly, "He's mostly hopeless, Em.'

Emma swats her away, but she's smiling, "Shut up, Becca. He's not completely hopeless." she thinks it over, "Most of the time."

"Hey!" Stewart cries.

Emma leans her head on his shoulder, "Just kidding."

"Good." he glares at Tristan and Darcy, "You were nervous, too. Admit it."

"Admitted." they chorus cheerfully.

**"I'm going to miss you this summer, Emma." he whispers.**

**"Me too." I whisper back, trying not to sound disappointed. A forehead kiss is almost a real kiss; it almost counts.**

"Hardly, Em." Jess says.

"Shut up!" Emma replies.

"But my dear girlfriend is right." Darcy says, trying his best to sound Ruper Loomis-ish.

** I rest my cheek on his shoulder.**

**We stay that way for a bit and then he clears his throat again. "I guess you'd better get going, huh?"**

The guys groan again.

"What now?" Stewart asks despondently.

"You're supposed to wait for my sister to say 'Stewart, I'd better go now.'." Darcy says, shaking his head.

**"Yeah."**

**Stewart walks me back to where we left our bicycles. "I hope you have fun at your party," he tells me. "And I guess I'll see you Tuesday afternoon."**

**"Uh-huh."**

**Tuesday is our last editorial meeting of the year- the last one for me forever at the _Walden Woodsman_. Next year we'll both be working on the Alcott High paper.**

"Next to next year." Megan corrects.

I give her a look.

She shrugs.

**Stewart gives me another quick hug, then pedals off toward the gate to Sleepy Hollow. I follow him out onto Bedford Street and back down toward Monument Square. He gives me one final wave as he turns down Lowell Road, and I wave back and cut across the square toward downtown, and Cassidy's house.**

"Yay, our house!" Courtney cheers

**As I ride along, I go over the last few minutes under the willow tree in my mind, wondering if I should have done something differently.**

"Nah, you were okay." Becca assures her.

**Should I always wait for Stewart to make the first move, or should I just grab him and kiss him? Are there rules written down somewhere about this stuff? Probably.**

"They're not." Jess, Megan, Becca and I chorused.

"Gee, thanks for the enlightenment." Emma rolls her eyes, "But we managed, didn't we, Stewart?"

"Yup, we did." he squeezes her hand.

** Maybe I should ask my mom. Or maybe not.**

"Why?" Mrs. Hawthorne asks, sounding a bit hurt.

"I bet it'll say." Emma gestures to the book.

** Last time I asked her about private girl things, I wound up with a whole stack of books on my bed with embarrassing titles like _You're a Young Woman Now and Understanding Your Changing Body_.**

Emma goes beet red.

"Didn't they help?" her mom asks, concerned.

"I never actually read them." Emma admits.

** Darcy got a hold of them and had a field day until Dad told him to cut it out.**

"Why, Darcy Hawthorne!" Mrs. Hawthorne exclaims.

"Sorry." Darcy shrugs.

**Bailey Jacobs and I have discussed this in our letters, too, but she's as clueless as I am. Maybe even more so, since she's never had a boyfriend and I suppose that technically, Stewart is my boyfriend,**

"Yup." Stewart says, "You're stuck with me."

"And happy about it." Emma tells him.

**kiss or no kiss. She says that with just twenty-seven kids at her school and only a handful of boys her age, there's not a whole lot to choose from. She's hoping that next year, when she goes to high school in Laramie, things will change.**

"It did." Emma grins. I heard that Bailey's going out with Owen Parker now.

I bet Zoey Winchester's fit to be tied.

"Why can't we call over the Wyoming girls?" Courtney asks, "To read with us, I mean."

"It's one thing to call a family from England and a boy from Minnesota, and then it's one thing to fly over an entire book club from Wyoming." Mrs. Hawthorne says.

"England is farther away from Concord than Wyoming." I point out.

"Yes, but the Berkeleys were planning to make the trip anyway, I just got them to increase the number of weeks they were staying for. July and August, instead of just July. So it was only a matter of flying out Theo, which was no problem."

"Oh, well." Megan shrugs, "I'm totally writing all about this in my next letter."

"Me too." Jess and Becca and Emma and I chorus.

**For now, I guess I'll just have to continue to be patient. It's not like Stewart doesn't want to kiss me, after all. I can tell that he does- just as much as I want to kiss him. It's just that, silly as it seems, neither of us is quite brave enough yet to make the first move.**

**A forehead kiss may not be the real thing, but it's a step of progress at least.**

"True." Megan says, "Even though most guys tend to skip the step."

"I did." Simon says, "Skip it, I mean."

"Me, too." says Theo.

"Me as well." Tristan adds.

"And me." Grant tells us.

"Same here." Darcy says.

They all look at Stewart.

"Practice makes perfect." Stewart insists stubbornly,

**Consoled by this thought, I pedal as fast as I can down Main Street. As I turn down Walden, I almost run into Savannah Sinclair, who's crossing the street to the post office with her arms full of packages and shopping bags.**

"What about Savannah and her parents?" Jess asks.

"What about them?" her mother replies.

"I mean, they're only 3 people, right here in Concord. Why not call them over to read with us?"

"Now, that's a doable idea." my mother says, "Maybe for now we should keep it just us, but it would be fun to call them eventually."

**"Emma!" she yells, as I swerve past her.**

**Reluctantly, I brake and pull over to the sidewalk, figuring she's going to bawl me out or something.**

**"Hey." she says.**

**"Hey."**

**"I heard that Clementine had her baby."**

**I nod, wondering what she wants. She doesn't seem to be angry or anything.**

"What did she want?" Darcy asks.

"You'll see." Emma answers.

**"Uh, do you have time to talk?"**

**"I guess." I reply cautiously.**

**"It's about Jess."**

**I raise an eyebrow.**

**"The thing is, I had no idea she liked your brother. Before I asked him to the dance, I mean."**

"Oh, this is all about me?" Darcy groans.

"Basically." Jess says.

**"Yeah, right." I mutter**

**"It's the truth." she replies, "How was I supposed to know?"**

**"So why didn't you uninvite him when she asked you to?"**

**Savannah lifts a shoulder. Her eyes slide to the ground, "I don't know. I was embarrassed, I guess. I'd already, uh, uninvited the guy I was originally supposed to go with."**

**"The blind date Peyton set up for you?"**

**She nods.**

I shake my head, "Gosh, that is so lame."

"Right?" Megan agrees.

"Thirteen years old is such a young age to be discussing things like this!" Mrs. Chadwick exclaims.

"Agreed." Mrs. Wong nods, "Blind dates, uninvitations, date stealing? Girls, you're in eight grade, not eleventh."

"Technically, now, we've just finished twelfth." I say.

Mrs. Wong and Mrs. Chadwick blush.

**"That's lame." I tell her scornfully.**

**Savannah sighs, "Look, I know! What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry I messed things up for her. It's just- she won't talk to me and- oh, I don't know, forget it. She wouldn't believe me anyway." She takes one of her shopping bags and thrusts it at me, "Here. I got this for Pip. I hope he's okay."**

"That was nice of her though." Becca says.

Jess nods in agreement, "Yup. She's come a long way since her days of being Julia, right?"

"Yeah, just like Becca's come a long way since being Queen Bee." I say.

"And Megan's come a long way since being in the Fab Four." Emma adds

"You girls have all come a long way." Mrs. Delaney says proudly.

**She turns and strides away, her long chestnut hair bouncing against her back. I watch her go, then hop back on my bike and pedal thoughtfully the last few blocks to Cassidy's house. Leaning my bike against the front porch, I sprint up the steps and ring the doorbell. Courtney answers it and smiles when she sees me.**

**"Hi, Emma." she says, "Come on in. Cassidy will be home for baseball practice any second. Your friends are all up in her room."**

**I hear laughter down the hall in the kitchen. Our moms are all here, and the house smells good. We decided to have a potluck for our surprise welcome home party, and Mrs. Delaney made lasagna.**

My stomach growls. Mrs. Delaney's lasagna rocks.

**Eva Bergson must be here already, too, because Pip comes scampering out of the kitchen.**

"Where is Pip, by the way?" Mr. Wong looks around, as if the dog would jump through the doorway any moment.

"He's at the farm with Josh Bates." Mr. Delany replies

**"Hey, boy!" I cry, squatting down and holding out my arms. Pip flings himself at me, his little body wriggling with excitement. He's always excited to see me, because usually it means he gets to go for a walk.**

**"Sorry, Pip, not right now," I tell him, burying my face in his fur, "Maybe after the party, okay?"**

**He laps at my face in response, and I laugh. At least Pip isn't shy about kissing me.**

"You're comparing me to a puppy?" Stewart exclaims in mock horror.

"Um, no?" Emma says.

Stewart sighs and resumes rubbing her back. It's probably instinctive, because I don't think he knows that he's doing it.

Emma and Stewart have been dating the longest out of all of us. They're super close. They know what to do or say to make each other feel better instinctively. They're just that used to it.

**He follows me upstairs to Cassidy's room. Jess and Megan and Becca are sprawled around Cassidy's room.**

**"You'll never guess who I ran into- almost literally- downtown." I say, picking up Pip and plopping him onto the bed.**

**My friends look over at me and shrug.**

**"Savannah," I tell them. I hold out the shopping bag, "She gave me this to give to you." I tell Jess, "It's for Pip."**

**"Really?" Jess looks puzzled, but she opens the bag, "Hey, this is really cute."**

**It's a pale blue collar and matching leash, with a black pawprint design running up and down the webbed material.**

**"So what went wring between you two, anyway?" asks Becca.**

"Well, now you know." Jess tells her.

**Jess gives me a wary glance, "Uh, I don't know." she replies, "She just couldn't help being- well, Savannah. You know."**

**"Maybe this is a peace offering." says Megan, "She seemed pretty nice that weekend at your house."**

"She's still nice now." Jess says.

**Jess lifts a shoulder, "Maybe. It's kind of too late for that, though. School finishes tomorrow."**

**The other thing about private schools? They get out a whole lot earlier than public schools. We still have two full weeks of school left at Walden.**

"Yeah, that totally sucks." I agree.

"It's so unfair. You close before us and open after us and have twice the amount of holidays during the school year." Emma scowls.

Jess lifts a shoulder, "Not my fault."

**Before we can discuss this any further we hear the front door slam, followed by feet pounding up the stairs. Cassidy bursts into the room, her face a thundercloud.**

"Hold on a sec." I frown at the book.

_Why_ was my face a thundercloud?

"We were gathered there to bring Chloe home from the hospital." Megan is clearly thinking the same thing as me. So is everyone else.

And then I remember.

_Uh oh._

"What's wrong?" Stewart asks me. I guess my expression looks pretty panicked.

"Nothing." I snap.

**"I hate Zach Norton!" she cries, flinging her baseball mitt to the floor.**

There is a brief silence, and then all four of my friends burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" I say heatedly.

"Yes, it is." Jess hiccups.

Emma reaches out, still laughing, to pat my shoulder, but I twist away and squeeze myself on the sofa next to Tristan, where Emma can't reach me.

The sofa is kind of weird. It's too big for one person, but too small for two people. So we're kind of squished. But neither of us mind.

"I don't get it." Courtney says, "What's so funny?"

"It's not funny." I insist.

**"What are you talking about?" I tell her, "Since when?"**

**"Since two minutes ago," snarls Cassidy, "He's a world-class creep!"**

**She bends down to untie her sneakers, then rips them off and hurls them at her closet door.**

**We all look at her, stunned.**

**"What on earth happened?" I ask her.**

I sigh, "I had to actually tell you, didn't I?"

**Cassidy starts to pace, "We were riding our bikes home from practice, right?" she says, "We always ride home together.**

"Why?" Tristan asks curiously.

"Because he's my_ friend_." I put emphasis on the word 'friend'.

** But today, instead of him going on down Stow to his house, he turns up Hubbard with me.**

Tristan scowls again, "Isn't he the one you dated in tenth grade?_ Your_ tenth grade, I mean?"

I don't reply. He knows. It's basically a rhetorical question.

**I figure he wants to race, so I really kick it into high gear. He chases after me and follows me into our driveway. So then I get off my bike and we're talking like normal, and then all of a sudden he's right in m face. It was like he was stealing second or something, he just dove at me! I thought maybe I had a wasp in my hair but then he goes and grabs me and_ kisses_ me!"**

The silence descends on the room again.

My friends are trying really hard not to laugh at Tristan's expression.

Eventually, though, they can't help it. And everyone else quickly joins in.

"He kissed you? That's why you were so angry?" Courtney questions in shock.

"Um, yeah. I swear, Courtney, he's a really, really, really bad kisser." I ramble.

"Yeah?" Tristan raises an eyebrow.

My cheeks heat up, "Yes."

**We all stare at her as she wipes her sleeve vigorously across her lips.**

**"It was just so _gross_!" she finishes angrily.**

"It was!" I insist, "It's just really.." I decide against the word slobbery, instead finishing lamely, "..uh, gross."

"Did that ever change?" Theo asks 'innocently'.

I think this over, "Nope."

"He's still a really bad kisser?"

"I'm not sure about now, but as of tenth grade...yes."

**Nobody says anything. Nobody knows what to say. Zach Norton kissed Cassidy?**

"Apparently." Tristan scowls at the book.

"Get over it, man." Darcy swats him.

Tristan dodges and turns his glare on Darcy instead.

** And then I start to laugh. I can't help it- the irony is just so completely perfect. Of all the Mother-Daughter Book Club members to get their first kiss, Cassidy Sloane is the absolute last one I would have expected.**

"Join the club." I tell her.

**Jess and Megan and Becca start to laugh, too, but Megan and Becca's laughter sounds a little strained. Probably because they both like Zach and would probably be on cloud nine right now if he'd tried to kiss them.**

"That's what you think." I say.

"Was it really that bad?" Becca asks wondrously

"Yes."

"Not _that_ kiss. His kisses in general."

"Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit." I admit, "They're not horrible. They're not good, either. So I'm settling for saying...yeah, they are bad."

Tristan makes a noise at the back of his throat.

**"I didn't know Zach liked you!" says Jess.**

**"Of course he does," Cassidy scoffs, "We're teammates."**

**"Yeah, but you know what I mean."**

**Cassidy turns as red as her hair,**

Tristan smirks.

He never ever, _ever_ turns red. Or even, like, light pink.

** "Why did he have to go and ruin a perfectly good friendship?" she yells, "He knows how much I hate all that gooshy stuff! How am I supposed to play baseball with him anymore?****I'm never going to be able to face him again."**

"But you did." Simon says, "And you kissed him again, too."

"Yup." I reply, "I did."

Tristan does not look supremely pleased.

I lean toward him and whisper quietly, "If it helps, Tristan, you're a way better kisser than he is."

Much to my surprise, he blushes. Not red, but a kind of dark pink.

I pull away, smiling.

Then, as Grant makes a funny remark that gets everyone laughing, Tristan leans towards me.

"That's nice to hear." he says softly, "I was thinking about practicing on you later."

Cue the bright red blush that takes over my entire face.

Fortunately, nobody notices except Courtney, who raises an eyebrow.

I scowl in her direction, an she looks away, grinning.

Tristan smirks again.

**"So what did you tell him?" I ask.**

**Cassidy snorts, "I didn't tell him anything- I just threw my baseball mitt at him."**

Everyone laughs.

"That left a black eye for sure." I recall the memory.

"And that's it." Mrs. Wong finishes.

"It was kind of sudden, don't you think?" Jess says.

"But you all understood what was going on, right?" Becca's dad asks.

"Duh." Theo grins, "Best chapter yet. Right, Stewart? Tristan?"

Stewart and Tristan scowl.

"Alright, alright." Mrs. Hawthorne intervenes before they can retort, "Time for a break."

"Good idea." Mrs. Chadwick says readily.

I grin at Emma and Jess. They smother their giggles.

The group disbands to various parts of the Wongs' enormous house.

My friends and I exchange a quick glance.

We lived through all of this stuff, so there's not much we need to talk about. I can tell Emma wants to talk to Stewart, though, and Megan probably wants to explain about her crush on Zach to Simon.

I'm pretty sure Becca needs to enlighten Theo on how she used to act in middle school, too.

I definitely need to talk to Tristan.

And Jess and Darcy can obviously use each other's company.

So we decide to meet in the kitchen with everyone else in half an hour, tops.

"It might be your point of view next, Cass." Megan tells me.

"Or Becca's." I say.

"If they choose one of the last two books." Megan reminds.

"It could be one of you guys again."

"Megan!" Simon calls. He's already halfway down the hall.

"Coming!" she calls back, dashing after him.

Tristan and I wonder into the Guest Service Area downstairs. There's nobody downstairs, because everyone's either in the kitchen or in one of the room the floor above that.

Plus, it's kind of private, since it's like the Guest Quarters or something.

I make sure the intercom is switched off, then turn to look at Tristan.

He checks his watch. I wonder what everyone else is talking about.

We all have only half an hour.

He looks back at me and I can sense that he's going to start talking.


	5. Break Time

**Hey guys!**

**Back with the break chapter. One chapter, going to cover all the couples' conversations! Wish me luck.**

**I'm gonna start off with Cassidy and Tristan to keep the flow going from the previous chapter.**

**If you read this A/N, please add #ExcitedForMDBC7 to your review.**

**It's just so I know whether you're reading this. I'd like to keep you all updated on recent happenings and story ideas, so it'll help if you guys could read my notes at the beginning of the chapters.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Estelle**

* * *

**With Cassidy and Tristan (Cassidy's P.O.V.)**

"So." Tristan finally says.

"So." I repeat cautiously.

He doesn't reply for a moment. I take this time to hike myself onto the tall counter-top. This makes me about a head taller than Tristan. It's technically a mark of how tall he is, because I'm sitting on a tall counter-top, and he's standing on the ground, and I'm still only a few inches taller than him. (Wow, how many times did I say 'tall' in that sentence?)

Tristan leans against the counter, "So this Zach character was your first kiss."

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" his eyebrows rise.

"Well, I was his first kiss, because he kissed me. But I didn't kiss him back, remember?"

Tristan processes this, then cracks a smile, "I like your way of thinking."

I laugh, "Come on. Haven't you ever dated anyone else? And Annabelle doesn't count."

"I didn't date Annabelle. She's my cousin. That's revolting."

I whistle innocently.

"There were a few girls I hung out with now and then, but not like..." he trails off, then looks at me again, "Look, Cass. You know how hard it is for me to open up and actually trust people."

I nod.

"It's hard for you, too, but you're openly rude and snappy and fierce, and I'm more cold and distant. I would say that you're one of the only people who are not in my family whom I really feel comfortable with." he continues, "You know how that works."

I nod again. Tristan and I never usually talk about this stuff. There's never a need. But I find it amazing the way he's able to open himself up completely to anyone whom he trusts. To anyone who trusts him.

I'm that way, too. I'm on my guard with the rest of the world, but with some people, like Tristan and my book club friends, I know it's no good.

"You mean a lot to me, Cassidy." Tristan says softly, and his dark blue eyes meet my gray ones, "A lot. You're different than other people I know."

I run my fingers through his hair, "You hated me so much when we first met."

"Not really." he shrugs, "I didn't know you. And it's not like you were super kind either."

I laugh, "I guess not."

For some time, I rest my cheek on top of his head, and he twirls my hair on his fingers. He does that a lot, but I'm not complaining.

"It's hard when someone means so much to you and you're kind of reliving some queer flashback where another guy kisses her." Tristan says, his voice soft.

I try to imagine how it would be if I was reading about some random girl kissing Tristan. I don't like the thought much.

"You're not...interested in him anymore, though, are you?" Tristan asks.

I shake my head, "Not in the slightest."

Tristan considers this, then turns to face me again. His arms slide loosely around my waist.

"So, do you think I could practice on you now, then?" he asks, "Make sure my kissing doesn't become as bad as Norton's?"

I turn bright red, "I don't think there's any chance of that."

"So you don't want me to practice on you?" he asks coyly.

I turn, if possible, even redder, "I didn't say that."

"Good, because I'm planning on doing it whether you want me to or not."

"I want you to." I murmur, my fingers still running through his hair.

"Then it's a win-win situation." Tristan whispers.

His arms tighten around my waist. Before I can reply, his lips press against mine, and my arms wrap around his neck.

_Way better than Zach Norton. Don't even mention their kissing skills in the same breath._

I want to tell Tristan that he's a way better kisser, that there's no need to prove it, that I'm not interested in Zach anymore, but I can't. Because his tongue is in my mouth and I am not going to make him stop any time soon.

We stay that way for some time, only stopping when we need to breathe, and then I hear the twist of the door knob. Tristan must, too, because we both pull away from each other quickly. I unwrap my arms from around his neck, but he doesn't make any move to remove his arms from my waist. Not that I want him to. But if it was Becca opening the door... or Courtney...or- oh my gosh- my _mom_. I would never hear the end of it.

About a second later, Stewart Chadwick bursts in. He grins at Tristan and me. I sigh in relief.

Tristan rolls his eyes, "He has great timing."

"Tell me about it." I reply.

Emma comes in a second later, "Stewart!" she scolds, sounding a bit out of breath.

She grins at me and Tristan, "Sorry, guys."

Tristan is laughing, though, and so am I, and then so are Emma and Stewart.

"Coming to the kitchen?" Stewart asks.

We nod.

Tristan's arms wrap tighter around my waist as I jump of the counter-top, then he lets go of me.

He walks ahead with Stewart, and I fall in place next to Emma.

"I wish Mrs. Delaney made some lasagna." I say longingly, "Who knows what crazy thing Mrs. Wong's cooked up."

"Gigi made dim sum." Emma tells me eagerly.

I grin, "Score."

We laugh again, and follow Stewart and Tristan into the kitchen.

* * *

**With Stewart and Emma (Emma's P.O.V.)**

Stewart and I wonder into a section of the Guest Service Areas. The Wongs have two of those. One for guests, and one used to be for Gigi, until she moved out with Monsieur de Roches. He and Sophie have gone to New York to 'sight-see', but Gigi stayed, on account of the books.

"Here." I say to Stewart.

Stewart nods, and we both sit down on the sofa.

"Sorry." he says.

I look at him in surprise, "Sorry for what?"

"Not kissing you at the Cemetery." Stewart answers sheepishly.

"It's nothing. Our first kiss was perfect." I tell him truthfully. It was. It was the best first kiss ever. A kiss in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery couldn't have compared.

He smiles, "Well, that was a bad day for romance all around. With the whole Zach-Cassidy kiss and my goof up."

"Your goof up was actually kind of cute."

"Only you would be nice enough to think that, Em. Simon and Theo and Tristan and Darcy all skipped my forehead step. I wonder where they had their first kisses."

"I already know." I said smugly.

"You do?"

"Uh-huh. Becca and Theo in Minnesota, then Simon and Megs had theirs in Paris. And Cass and Tristan had theirs in England, and Darce and Jess's was here in Concord."

"Are you supposed to be telling me all this?" Stewart cocks his eyebrow.

I grin, "Probably not."

He grins, too, "You know, I'd like to make up for the forehead kiss."

My heart beats faster, "Yeah?"

"Yup. Are you up for it?"

"Definitely." I reply.

He leans over and kisses me. It's wonderful how he seems to be able to improve each kiss. Every time, I find it impossible that he can possibly do better. Except he does.

It's always like we're the only two people in the world. Just me and him, and there's sparks and electricity and _fireworks._ So many fireworks. They're absolutely everywhere.

It ends way too soon, but it's been more time than I expected.

"We'd better get going." I say reluctantly, and he nods.

"Y'know." he casts me a sidelong glance, "I think I saw Cassidy and Tristan go through into the other Guest Area. Let's go bother them and remind them it's time."

Before I can comprehend what he said, he jumps up and makes his way to the door to the other Guest Area

Holding a finger to his lips, he twists the handle.

Then, he pushes the door open and bursts in.

I hear Cassidy heave a sigh. It sounds kind of relieved. Maybe she was expecting her mom.

"He has great timing." Tristan mutters.

"Tell me about it." Cassidy answers.

"Stewart!" I scold, appearing behind him and taking in the scene.

Cassidy is sitting on the counter-top, and Tristan's arms are wrapped around her waist.

He looks half amused and half annoyed.

"Sorry guys." I say, grinning at them.

But Tristan's laughing, and so am I and so are Cassidy and Stewart

"Coming to the kitchen?" Stewart asks.

I roll my eyes at my boyfriend. The boyfriend who means so, so much to me.

Cassidy and Tristan nod. He tightens his arms around her waist and she jumps down from the counter-top. Their movements are always in sync. It's probably all the ice-dancing. They've gotten used to each others rhythm.

As we make our way to the kitchen, Cassidy glumly remarks about how we'll have to eat some weird creation of Mrs. Wong's.

"Nope. Gigi made dim sum." I tell her eagerly. Gigi's food is legendary.

Cassidy brightens, "Score!"

We follow Stewart and Tristan into the kitchen. Everyone else is already there.

We join Megan, Becca, Jess, Simon, Theo and Darcy at the dining table and join the lively discussion that's already flourishing.

* * *

**With Jess and Darcy (Jess's P.O.V.)**

"Whew." Darcy mimes wiping a hand across his forehead as we wander into a storage room, full of cardboard boxes.

"Whew is right." I reply, seating myself next to him on an especially long box.

"This has got to be one of the weirdest, most unexpected book series ever." Darcy breathes out a laugh,"And this has got to be one of the weirdest reading sessions ever."

"Tell me about it. In our points of view. I don't understand who the author is and how she or he got it all down."

"But they were right, right?"

I nod, "One million percent right."

"Per cent means per hundred. Million percent can't exist." Darcy teases, "I thought you knew this, my dear genius girlfriend."

I shove him playfully.

"So." Darcy says after some time, "Norton?"

"Huh?"

"Before Em and Becca and Megs and Cassidy got with their boyfriends, they were all crushing on Zach Norton?"

"Pretty much. Well, Cassidy and Zach actually dated. They're just really confusing. But, overall, yeah. I guess I'm the only one who never_ like_ liked him."

Darcy fist-pumps and I giggle.

"Stewart's got some explaining to do to my sister. Man, a forehead kiss? Are you serious?" Darcy chuckles.

I swat him, "He's not here, you dork. He can't even hear you."

"Yeah, he's probably redeeming himself to Emma." Darcy makes a face, "Stewart's cool and all, but, sheesh, that's my sister."

"I know. And my best friend." I remind him.

"About redeeming himself...you wanna try?"

"What?" I ask, startled.

"I said Stewart's probably redeeming himself, right? You know what that means."

I nod, "Uh-huh."

"Well, wanna go for it? Fifteen minutes left."

"What?"

Darcy shakes his head, smiling softly. I love Darcy's smile. It's sweet and fun and nice and caring. It makes me melt, I swear.

He leans forward, and I stare into his eyes. I love his eyes, too. He has the nicest eyes.

He kisses me.

I love Darcy's kisses.

I kiss back, smiling into the kiss, closing my eyes.

Darcy always says he loves_ my_ smile, and that _my_ eyes are the most gorgeous blue he's ever seen. Most gorgeous color he's ever seen, in fact.

We pull away from each other, and I lean my head against his chest fore a couple of minutes.

"We should probably get going to the kitchen." I finally say.

He nods and takes my hand and we chase each other to the kitchen, bursting in happily.

The parents look over at us and smile. Gigi points to a dish on the counter.

"Dim sum!" Simon says dreamily.

He and Megan and Theo and Becca are already seated at the table.

Darcy and I join them, "No sign of the other 4?" I ask.

Thoe shrugs, "Not yet."

"Whose point of view do you think it'll be next?" Becca questions nervously.

"The parents- or moms, at least- did say they weren't reading out humiliating or private stuff." Megan says cautiously.

We continue to discuss scenarios which are actually humiliating versus scenarios which are humiliating in our moms' minds when Cassidy and Tristan and Stewart and Emma show up.

"I hope it isn't me." Cassidy says in a low voice.

"Especially in tenth grade." I tease, and she flushes bright red.

"Alright, alright, enough chatting." Gigi calls, "Dim sum, anyone?"

"Everyone!" Tristan calls back, and the delicious meal is served. Not the normal lunch, but still amazing.

We sit together and laugh and chat and eat and try not to worry about what the rest of the snippets have in store for us.

* * *

**With Megan and Simon (Megan's P.O.V.)**

I fall back on my bed and let out my breath, "So."

Simon drops into the desk-chair, "So."

Neither of us speak for a moment.

Then I decide to break the silence. It was too absolute, it was basically screaming in my ears.

"Simon, look." I say, "Listen. There are some stuff you need to know. Other than the fact that I liked Zach Norton before I met you."

Simon smiled lightly, "I don't mind that. He's a good friend of mine, like I said. You don't like him any more, do you?"

I shake my head.

"Then all is well. It's probably going to be harder for my dear brother."

I laugh, remembering Tristan's face when we read about Zach kissing his girlfriend.

Then I stop laughing.

"Megs?"

"Back in sixth grade." I say, my throat constricting a bit, "At the beginning, for a good few months, I was..." I sighed, "God, Simon, I was horrible."

Simon's brows furrow, "Horrible?"

"Yes. Becca and I were those snobby rich kids. We made fun of everyone for everything. We made fun of Emma, and laughed at her for being poor- behind her back and to her face. We laughed at Jess for, I don't know, living in the coolest farm ever? And her mom kind of left them that year and went to New York to act on a soap opera. We used to tease her that her mom ran away from her. And Cassidy...she was kind of fierce, way more than Emma and Jess. She still is. But we laughed about her looking like an outsider in her family, we laughed about her dad..." Tears blurred my vision, "We made fun of her that her dad died. Simon, I was that bad."

Simon chews his lip, regarding me thoughtfully, "Megan..."

"No, wait. Emma and I were friends. We were. Until fourth grade, and I ditched her and started making her life miserable, and.." I blabber.

"Megan."

I turn to him, "Yeah?"

"You were like that."

"Yeah."

"Except you weren't, really." he says.

I stare at him.

"You can still see traces of snobby-Becca. You know you can, even though she's done a tremendous amount to overcome it." Simon tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, "You can't see traces of snobby Megan. That wasn't really you. It was just an act. You liked Becca, and she liked you, but did you fit? And that was all."

"That's even worse!" I wail, "I was willing to do all that for- for...popularity!" I wail.

"And you've come really far. See, you know where you went wrong."

"No, listen...I let Becca read Emma's journal to Zach and Ethan and Third and a bunch of other guys in the sixth. It was a poem about Zach. I didn't stop her. Becca and me ruined the Beauty and The Beast play on Jess's opening night by letting her goat onto the stage. In seventh grade, I actually believed..." I ramble, but Simon holds up a hand to silence me.

"I understand that you were cruel, Megan. I'll be prepared for the worst." he gestures to me, "Because this is Megan. That was not." You obviously feel bad about what happened." Simon slides an arm around me, "I like this Megan. Nothing from the past can change that."

I feel a tiny smile forming, "Okay."

He leans in towards me, "I think I can make you feel better."

My heart flutters happily.

His kisses are always perfect.

How can you describe a perfect kiss? You can't. I can't.

His lips are perfect and his eyes are beautiful and he is amazing and he makes me happier than almost anyone else in the world.

I lean against him, breathing in his perfect smell.

I glance at the clock on my wall, "Si?"

"Off to the kitchen?"

"Mmm-hmm."

So we close my room door and head downstairs.

None of my other friends are there except Becca and Theo. Their talk must have gone well, because they're both smiling as they chat.

"Hey y'all!" Becca says, trying to sound like-

"Savannah Sinclone?" Theo says, unsure, "She swore she was good at imitating, but I don't know who Savannah is."

"Sinclair." I correct, "She was pretty spot-on. Y'all? That's Savannah, alright."

"Okay, then."

We hang around for some time, until Jess and Darcy appear, and then the other four show up, too.

"Dim sum!" my boyfriend sighs dreamily.

We laugh and take out plates and tuck in to the delicious meal, trying not to think about the awaiting books.

* * *

**With Becca and Theo (Becca's P.O.V.)**

We end up in the Sewing Room. I love looking at the finished clothes and Megan's perfect designs.

But as I close the door, I know that that's not why I'm here right now.

"Becca?" Theo leans against the wall.

I turn towards him hesitantly, "Theo, you deserve the story. And I'm gonna give it to you."

"Okay." he looks expectant.

"So, I'm the villain of the story."

"The...?"

"Villain. Yeah."

I breathe, in and out and in and out...willing myself not to break down and give Theo every negative quality I have, telling him every sin I've ever committed.

Theo reaches out and massages my shoulder gently. I lean into his chest and breath him in. I feel myself calm down a bit.

"I was horrible." I mumble.

He draws away, "And why's that?"

"Look, let's start with the fact that I flirted with every guy I saw. I don't do that anymore, of course." I add quickly, "But I used to."

"And now you don't. See? That's good." Theo smiles at me.

_Oh, gosh. I don't deserve Theodore Rochester. I don't deserve such an understanding person. I don't deserve someone who is every bit as nice as I am not._

"And I was mean. As mean as-" I don't say 'snake' because I know he won't take it well, "Well, as mean as you could possibly imagine."

"Give me an example." Theo is analyzing this, the same way he analyzes his snakes or his schoolwork or his friends' problematic situations.

So he's paying attention.

I spill all the details, one after another.

Emma's journal at the ice rink.

"You did that?" he asks softly.

I nod, ashamed, "I did, I know..."

And then I tell him about the Beauty and the Beast Play.

"You let the goat onstage." Theo asks in disbelief.

I nod again.

I painfully re-encounter the entire 'Handcuff Wongs' hysteria. All the details. Humiliating Megan. Framing Emma and Cassidy. Everything.

He doesn't speak. For a long moment, he doesn't speak.

He's going to break up with me. I know it. And I deserve it. It makes sense. I understand why he'd want to.

Theo opens his mouth, but I start to talk before he can, "I'm sorry for everything, I really am. I never meant...I can't believe... I mean.." I ramble, "Theo, I know I was horrible, who knows, maybe I still am." I close my eyes in anguish, "I've tried to change, I'm still trying, I think I'm doing okay, but I was horrible." my voice lowers to a whisper, "Maybe I still am..."

"Becca." Theo says softly.

I look at him.

"Becca... okay, I'm not gonna lie. You were horrible. I can't believe it. You shouldn't have done that stuff. It's revolting."

I look at the floor, tears blurring my vision.

"But...I'm also really proud and impressed at what a good person you are, too."

"I-what?" I interrupt shakily.

"You saw your mistake. You tried to change. And you're doing awesome! I'd never have guessed you were, y'know...like that before." he looks me in the eye, "And all the stuff you're doing for your family? It's great. In fact, just being able to face up to me like this shows a lot of courage. See how bad you feel about it all? What kind of 'villain', in your words, feels bad? You are a good person. That's why you feel bad."

Theo hugs me. I mentally send a message to random supreme forces.

_Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me have friends who will forgive me and THANK YOU for letting me have this wonderful boy in my life, someone who will accept me and like me for who I am..._

He kisses me.

I don't see it coming. I smile. I love his kisses. They're wonderful and it was so totally worth the wait for my Mr. Rochester.

It ends way too soon, but hey, we've gotta get back to the kitchen, right?

So we make our way back to the kitchen to find that we're the first one from our group to return.

As we take our seats, Theo asks, "Who is Savannah, by the way?"

"Oh, she's a friend of ours. She rooms- roomed- with Jess at Colonial. I'm pretty sure they're going to Julliard together, but she wanted to do law, too, so I'm not sure." I tell him.

"Oh. Savannah's a town in Georgia, y'know."

"Yeah, I know. She's all southern and stuff."

"Yeah?" he asks playfully.

"Yeah, and I can totally imitate her." I reply confidently.

"Let's see how you do, partner." Theo tries his hand at a Southern accent.

I laugh as Megan and Simon enter the kitchen and come towards us.

"Hey." they chorus.

"Hey, y'all." I answer.

Megan and Simon stare at me, confused.

"Savannah Sinclone." Theo interjects, sounding unsure, "She swore she was good at imitating, but I don't know who Savannah is."

I squelch back a laugh.

"Sinclair." Megan corrects, "She was pretty spot-on. Y'all? That's Savannah, alright."

"Okay, then." Theo shrugs nonchalantly.

We talk some more, waiting for our friends to join us.

And when they do, we enjoy some awesome dim sum.

"Gather back in the room!" Mrs. Hawthorne orders.

We all trudge back to the room and seat ourselves.

"Are we all here?" Mrs. Wong asks, "Or should I do a roll-call?"

"Um, I don't think we have to do that." Cassidy says dryly from her spot on the couch next to Tristan. He drapes an arm around her, rubbing her neck lightly. She lets her head fall onto his shoulder.

"Okey-dokey." My dad says, "Can I do the honors?"

"Of course." Mrs. Hawthorne grants, holding out the bowl.

Cassidy and I exchange fearful glances. Out of the five of us, only we haven't had our points of view read yet.

My father quickly pulls out a chit and unfolds it.

_Please don't be the last two books, please don't be one of the last two books.._. I silently pray.

"And the book is..." my father intones.

I squeeze my eyes shut as he reads out the title.


	6. Pg 124- 131 (The MDBC)

**Hey everyone.**

**Okay. So. Yeah.**

**Um, I don't know what to say...so...I'll just let it all out. I've been reading your reviews on how much you like the story, and it means so much to me to be appreciated as a writer. And I've been reading all the comments that ask for an update. I realized, whether or not a person is a good at writing, being a good author means not letting down hisher readers. So I'm really sorry, and I'm back to work.**

**Thank you for sticking by me. It's reading all the reviews that made something click inside me and I started writing again like crazy. I'm sorry I let you all down.**

**Also, you can catch me on Facebook as Estelle Wright (don't worry, it's NOT my full name. :P )**

**If you read this unusually long note, add #ItTookHerLongEnough to your review.**

**Enjoy the latest chapter!**

**-Estelle**

* * *

**The Mother-Daughter Book Club, pg. 124-131; (Becca's P.O.V.)**

"And the book is..." My dad intones.

I shut my eyes, praying that it isn't one of the last two books.

"The Mother Daughter Book Club! Book 1!"

There is some silence. I'm not sure why everyone is quiet, but I feel pretty relieved. Nobody's going to plunge into my thoughts.

The other four look kind of weary. I guess getting nervous for every announcement gets boring.

Then Cassidy whispers something to Jess and they both look at me.

I frown, trying to recall whether there was anything wrong with book 1. Nice, safe, book one. Sixth grade. 12 years old. Innocence.

Oh. Wait.

Sixth grade.

Bratty, non-innocent. I turn to Megan, who looks green.

"Page..." Mrs. Sloane Kinkaid, "Page..124." Her smile is replaced by a worried expression, "124."

The other moms peer at the page, then exchange a glance.

"When we marked it readable, I don't think we actually expected it to pop up." Mrs. Wong says, finally.

"Well...most of them have lived through it, and the other will know about it now, I guess." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid shrugs, "They were young. They've learned."

Oh no, this is going to be bad.

"Right, bygones will be bygones." Mrs. Hawthorne says firmly, "They can do better. They have done better. Now, we just need to retrace our path and...appreciate how far we've come from this incident."

"Exactly, Phoebe." Mrs. Delaney says, "This moments was obviously tough, but let's take it from the very last line to the end of the chapter, shall we? Courtney, you can read."

"Wait!" My mom barks.

Grant passes her the pen, which had rolled across the coffee table.

"Thank you, young man. Now. 124...to?"

"131." Cassidy's mom says.

As my mom notes this down, she says, "Well, I would like to apologize in advance, but we'll keep all other discussions for later. Courtney, begin."

Courtney's eyes find the line, "This is Jess's point of view by the way."

Jess's mouth drops open, "What? No way, that's completely unfair! Becca hasn't gotten a chance, and neither has Cassidy!"

"She's got a lower chance of having her perspective read." Mr. Hawthorne tell us, "And Cassidy's just been lucky."

"The quote." Mrs. Delaney interjects, and everyone falls silent so we can hear the snippet.

Cassidy's sister starts reading:

**Jess**

**"What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?"**

Mrs. Delaney look at Jess with sad eyes. Jess shakes her head, smiling. It's a small smile, but it's there, and I guess, for now, that's all that counts.

Courtney flips to page 124 and goes on.

**"At school, I follow Mrs. Sloane to a classroom that's been set up for hair and makeup. She volunteered to be in charge of all that.**

I sit up straight, knocking Theo's arm away from my shoulders.

**"Why don't you change into your costume for the first scene and then I'll work my magic." she says, plugging in a curling iron.**

"No." Megan shakes her head feverishly, "No, no, no, no, no."

"Yes." I moan, "I cant believe we have to read this!"

**I head for the girls' room, and by the time I return, she's putting the finishing touches on the Fab Four.**

"The Fab Four was a singing group where we live." Mrs. Berkeley tells us, "Simon was a big fan as a youngster, but Tris wasn't too keen on them."

"Darling, you're a bit confused. There's no Fab Four singing sensation." Mr. Berkeley frowns.

"There was, before." Mrs. Berkeley insists, "They've split now, though. There's that fashion designer, I did so love her clothes line."

Tristan's brow clears. He starts laughing. Pretty soon, Simon joins in.

"Mum, I think you mean the Spice Girls." Simon gasps, wiping his eyes, 'Victoria Beckham?"

"Oooh, yes, you're right!" their mom says, "Yes, exactly!"

"How on earth did you mix up those two names?" Tristan frowns, "There are five in the group."

"When we were younger, my friends and I loved them. We called them the Fabulous Five, and I just got confused, I suppose."

"Why didn't you like them, Tris?" I ask.

"Not my taste." Tristan shakes his head, "Too nice. I can't deal with all that 'Posh' nonsense. I did rather like the look of the ginger one, though."

We laugh again.

**"I hate this costume so much." says Megan, examining herself in the mirror. She's wearing a black bodysuit,**

"You and Tristan match." Simon says cheerfully, and Cassidy slaps him a high-five.

Megan looks mortified, "Take that back, Si!"

Simon chuckles, but his lips remain sealed.

** and she's sandwiched between two huge round pieces of cardboard which have been spray-painted gold. Becca, Ashley and Jen are dressed exactly the same, except Becca's cardboard cutouts are in the shape of a cup, and Ashley's and Jen's are a knife and fork.**

"Do you guys keep in touch with Jen?" Emma asks.

I shrug, "Um, a bit. Kind of."

"Yeah, I try, but she never answers." Megan agrees, frowning.

"Maybe Ashley does, who knows. Back to the story." Cassidy presses.

**"Nonsense, you girls look great." Mrs. Sloane tells her, "Just the way royal dishes should look."**

"Oh, thanks, Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid." I say sarcastically.

"Rebecca Louise!" my mom barks.

"I mean...thank you, Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid. That was a nice compliment."

**Megan makes a face at herself in the mirror. Becca, Ashley and Jen do the same.**

**"Monkey see, monkey do." I mutter.**

"True." Jess nods seriously.

"Some thoughts never change, I suppose." Mr. Hawthorne smiles.

**Emma pokes her head in the room, "Warm-up in five!" she calls, then disappears again.**

"So responsible." I shake my head warily.

"On that day, I wanted to strangle you for not hanging around, Em." Jess tells her best friend.

Emma shrugs, "I had a lot of other duties."

Darcy and Theo both suppress laughter at this lame excuse.

I think everyone is laughing at all the non-funny things just because most people know what's coming later in the chapter. It makes me feel a bit better, so I chuckle, too.

**Mrs. Sloane turns to me. As Mrs. Sloane starts curling my hair, another head pops in through the doorway. It's Zach Norton.**

Tristan, Simon and Stewart seem to debate on whether or not to make a face, but at the end, all three of them remain expressionless.

**"Is it safe to come in?"**

**Mrs. Sloane nods.**

**He crosses the room and hands me a single red rose,**

"A rose?" Darcy says irritably, "Why? It's just a play."

"He was being nice. We practiced together for such a long time, and he was nice to me." Jess explains.

** "This is for you." he says shyly, "Good luck to night. I mean, break a leg."**

Darcy shakes his head, "This kid is actually a bit of a player, now that I think about it. Giving you a rose to cover up the fact that he liked Cassidy while knowing four other people in that room liked him?"

"Darcy!" we all chorus exasperatedly.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Just slipped out." he grumbles.

**"You too, Zach." I reply, "Thanks." In the mirror's reflection, I can see the Fab Four watching us. Megan looks like she's wishing the floor would open and swallow me up.**

"I did, at that time." Megan recalls.

**Too bad, I think. It's her own dumb fault that Zach is keeping his distance. She shouldn't have let Becca read Emma's poem at the rink.**

I look down, ashamed.

So does Megan, "You're right, Jess. I really shouldn't have."

"I shouldn't have read it at all." I interject, "I'm sorry, Emma."

"It's no big deal. It's even kind of funny now." Emma waves her hand.

I will never understand how my friends are such nice people. It kills me to give a compliment when I'm jealous. I'd be six feet under Sleepy Hollow if I said something forgiving, like Emma just did. Or maybe everybody else would be buried, having died of shock.

**Zach tugs on one of my long blonde ringlets, "Nice look."**

"At least we have similar taste." Darcy says lightly.

Jess beams.

**"Thanks." I say again.**

**As he turns to leave, Calliope Chadwick barges into the room. She grabs Becca by the arms and hauls her to Mrs. Sloane.**

I massage my arm.

"Sorry about that." my mom says. I don't know if she's talking to me or Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid, but who cares?

"It's fine." Cassidy's mom and I chorus.

My dad nods at me, like,_ good job, Bec._ And I guess maybe it doesn't kill me so much to be nice, after all. I guess I had changed after so long.

**"My daughter needs more glitter!' she orders.**

My mom sighs. So do I.

**Mrs. Sloane puts down the curling iron, "I think Becca has enough glitter on her face." she replies.**

"She did." My mother murmurs apologetically.

"And it was all itchy." I remember, "More glitter would have caused, like, rashes." I shudder, "Ew."

**"The audience will hardly be able to see her! I want her to shine!"**

I cringe. The audience wasn't able to see me that night. I spent my stage time dragging a goat out of a crate, then got myself kicked out of the play.

**"Don't forget that Becca only has a supporting role, Calliope." says Mrs. Sloane, smiling sweetly, "Members of the chorus aren't supposed to outshine the star."**

'Ouch." I say.

"Sorry, sweetheart." Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid says, looking sincere.

"It's okay." I say again.

"It's true." my mom adds. I nod.

**Becca goes back over to join her friends, and Ms. Chadwick casts a sour glance at me.**

"And I must apologize to you, Jess." my mom says pompously.

Jess hides a grin, 'We're good, Mrs. Chadwick."

** Behind me, the door opens and my father comes in.**

**"Star?"she says to Mrs. Sloane, "Ha! From what I've heard, the casting of this play was influenced by favoritism, and I plan to speak to the school board about it. Giving the lead roles to hoity-toity girls from some ramshackle farm who think they're something special because they're in some ridiculous book club, and just because their mothers happen to be acting in some ridiculous soap opera, is no way to run a drama department."**

Everybody goes silent. Even Dylan and Ryan are staring furiously at the book, mouths open in shock.

I go white, burying my face in my hands for a second. My mom looks horrified.

"That was us." Megan squeaks, pointing at me and herself.

"Yeah." I whisper, "We said- we told mom...I was...we were upset...we kind of spread it. Throughout. School."

Jess's mom hasn't said anything for a while, and she still doesn't say anything now.

Gigi looks terribly disappointed, though, and Megan looks ready to disappear.

"Our farm is not ramshackle!" the twins cry out in unison.

"It's not." My mom says quietly, "I'm very, very sorry about that. About everything."

"Me too." me and Megan chorus in a soft voice.

"You won that role fair and square, Jess." Megan adds, "You have a beautiful voice."

"Thanks." Jess smiles.

**"That ramshackle farm, as you call it, has been around since the Revolutionary War." my father says quietly. Mrs. Chadwick whips around, surprise to see him there.**

"That would have been interesting." Simon says lightly.

Cassidy's mom nods, "Oh, it was."

**"In case you've forgotten, Calliope, Paul Revere himself took shelter there with one of my ancestors, while your in-laws were busy turning traitor."**

**The Revolutionary War is a sore spot with Mrs. Chadwick, whose husband's family had sided with the British.**

"And what is wrong with the British?" Simon asks belligerently.

"Ummm..." Courtney hesitates, "Nothing, guys...it's just-"

"-they don't have the best history here, y'know?" Cassidy says, as if it the whole thing was boring, "And British doesn't mean you guys. W're talking about the British that attacked. Chill."

**"And from what I've heard." my father continues in the ultracalm voice he uses when he's furious, "your daughter got just the role she deserved. I hear she's pretty good at _dishing out_ unkindness."**

I flinch, and Jess's dad look at me worriedly, "It used to be the case." he says, "Used to. You've changed a lot, Becca, and we're all proud of you."

I manage a smile, but suddenly the whole thing becomes real. The part that I really, really don't want to read is coming, and we have no choice but to read it.

**Mrs. Chadwick's mouth pops open in an angry O. Before she can say anything, Mrs. Sloane slaps something into her hand, "You want glitter?" she says frostily, "Take the glitter! Just remember, all that glitters is not gold, and that includes dancing tableware."**

"Go, Mom!" Cassidy laughs, "You tell her."

Then Cassidy slaps a hand over her mouth, "I mean...um..."

Tristan is shaking with silent laughter, and then so am I, and so is everyone else.

Cassidy doesn't take back her remark, but no one says anything, so Courtney continues.

**Mrs. Chadwick gives a wounded sniff, draws herself up with as much dignity as she can muster, and waddles off. Her attempt at a grand exit is spoiled, however, by her large bottom, which wags behind her like a reproachful buffalo.**

My eyes widen. Everyone turns to look at Jess. Jess look terrified.

"Sorry." she whispers.

My mom smiles to show her that it's no big deal. And, really, after all the things my mom had said, she has no right to be upset.

In fact, even I think that line is kind of funny.

**"Don't pay attention to that old battleax." my father tells me once she's out of earshot, "You've earned this role fair and square. And besides that, you look like a princess!"**

"Agreed." Darcy says, grinning at Jess's dad, "We think alike, Mr. Delaney."

**I give him a sidelong glance, "Princess Jess of Ramshackle Farm?"**

We snicker at this long-standing joke.

"So that's where it came from." Theo says.

**Mrs. Sloane laughs, "That's the spirit."**

**"Is Sundance okay?" I ask my father.**

**He nods, "You bet. She's in his crate in the back of the truck."**

**"Whose Sundance?" asks Mrs. Sloane, winding another strand of my hair on the curling iron.**

**"My pet goat." I explain, "She was at the vet's."**

**Across the room, I hear the Fab Four burst out laughing. I don't even have to look at them to know they're talking about me. _Goat girl_, they're saying. I feel my face grow hot.**

I sigh for the millionth time, "Sorry." Megan and I chorus in a low voice.

**My dad gives me a kiss and tells me to break a leg, and then it's time for warm ups and pep talks by Mrs. Adams. As we take our places backstage, Emma peeks through the curtains, "It's filling up!" she reports. I pace back and forth, wiping the palms of my hands on my dress and trying in vain to control the wild thudding of my heart.**

"Wow!" Emma exclaims, exchanging an incredibly excited look with her dad.

They both whip out their notebooks and jot down the phrase.

"Jess, that was the best one yet." Emma closes her eyes blissfully.

Okay, my friends are nice, but they are also weird.

**The prelude starts and Emma shoves a book into my hands. I stare at it blankly.**

**"Your prop for the first scene, remember?" she whispers.**

**I try and recall my first scene. I can't. I try and recall my first line- nothing. I grab her arm, panicked.**

**"You're gonna be great." she reassures me, then races out.**

"Thanks for that." Jess says.

"Sarcasm on hold. I couldn't stay!" Emma whines.

"No, really." Jess insists, "I'm serious. It did kind of help."

**The curtain rises and the audience claps enthusiastically when they see our elaborate stage set- the painted houses and storefronts of a small french village. I peer out from the wing and spot my father and brothers sitting next to Darcy and Emma's parents in the front row, right where they said they'd be. I look around for my mother, just in case maybe she decided to surprise me, but she's nowhere in sight.**

"Oh, Jess." Mrs. Delaney finally whispers softly. She sounds close to tears.

Jess gets up from her spot next to Darcy and goes to hug her mom.

"Mom, it's okay. I get that you had the award." Jess says.

"No, I should have been there for you." Jess's mom murmurs, "I abandoned everything for a soap opera? I can't believe you let me back into the Farm."

"Honey, don't talk like that." Mr. Delaney says, soothing and firm all at once, "We understood that you needed a break. It was tough, but we love you and we are proud of how talented you are."

Jess's mom doesn't seem comforted.

"The play wasn't as big of a success as I'd hoped anyway." Jess says.

I exchange a guilty glance with Megan.

"Anyway, mom." one of the twins say, "I don't think you should only be thinking about the fact that you left."

"Yeah," the other twin agrees, "I think you should also remember that you came back."

Everyone stares at them. Those kind of mature, reasonable words are the last thinks you expect from Dylan and Ryan Delaney.

"C'mere, squirts." Jess ruffles their hair, and soon all five Delaneys are in the middle of a group hug.

As they take their places again, I notice that Mrs. Delaney looks a bit happier.

**The first number begins and Mrs. Adams pokes me in the back, my cue for my entrance. I take a deep breath and wander out onstage, pretending to read a book like I'm supposed to. I focus on the music and try to ignore the audience. The stage fright will pass, I tell myself grimly. Mom promised.**

"You still went by that, after all the pain I put you through?" Mrs. Delaney questions disbelievingly.

"Mom, whether you were there or not, you're my mom. Of course I trust you." Jess says honestly.

**Amazingly, astonishingly, she was right. As soon as I open my mouth and begin to sing, suddenly I'm not me anymore, and this isn't the stage in Walden Middle School in Concord, Massachusetts. I've been transported to a village in France, and I am Belle. I have actually become her. Jess- shy, tongue-tied Jess- is someplace far, far away. There's only the music and me and the audience, who is hanging on my every note.**

**I'm soaring.**

"That's why I left." Mrs. Delaney whispers shakily, "It's that feeling. I had to feel it again."

"It's incredible." Jess agrees.

"And I think everyone feels it in different ways." Cassidy's mom says, "Me when I'm filming or modelling, Cass out on the ice, Becca while cheer-leading, Emma writing and Megan designing or sewing."

_**Is this how it is for Mom , **_**a distant part of my mind wonders? Does she feel this way when she's acting, too? This alive?**

Mrs. Delaney nod, "But it's no excuse."

**Is that why she had to leave Half-Moon Farm? To feel this incredible feeling again? But this isn't the time or place for such thoughts and I shove them away, forcing myself to concentrate instead on the action onstage.**

**We're almost at the end of the first act when it happens. Right at the end of a big, rousing number, where the dishes and furniture in the Beast's castle break into a song for Belle. I don't notice that all the dishes aren't there, that a certain cup has disappeared offstage,**

I screw my eyes shut, tightly shut.

"Not our best moment, huh, Bec?" Megan says quietly.

** and I don't notice the commotion a short while later in the wings when the cup returns. I hear a ripple of laughter from the audience and assume it's because of the tableware cancan line. That always gets a laugh.**

**But the ripple becomes a tidal wave and the music grinds to a halt and I turn around to see a goat skitter across the stage.**

I groan. Those who weren't there look at me and Megan in shock.

"I..." I can't really say anything.

Courntey understands, and continues.

**"Sundance?" I whisper, incredulous, "How did you get out of the truck?"**

**My pet's foreleg is wrapped tightly in a white bandage and she's limping. She spots me and comes trotting over.**

**"Maaa-aaaa," she bleats.**

**The audience hoots with laughter.**

**Sundance butts her head softly against me, "Maa-aaaa," she bleats again, her sweet little voice muffled by the fabric of my long dress. But it can't muffle her fear. She's scared by all the lights and people.**

"I'm so stupid!" I explode, "I. Am. So. STUPID! Did I think of Jess? No! Did I think of Sundance and her health? No! All I thought of was...was what? Humiliating Jess? And why? I didn't even have a reason!"

"It's all over, Becca." Jess says quietly, "And I forgive you."

**"Goat Girl!" Megan calls in a stage whisper,**

Megan looks stricken.

** and the Fab Four start to laugh.**

I feel sick.

** So does the rest of the cast. Mrs. Adams chooses this unfortunate moment to rush onto the stage, waving her clipboard, which startles Sundance. Sundance takes off again, and pretty soon, all the boys in the cast are chasing her and all the girls are scattering, their squeals blending with my pet's frantic bleats.**

**"Leave her alone!" I cry, "She's scared!"**

**No one can hear me above the pandemonium. No one but Sundance, that is. She tries to dodge a couple of villagers to reach me, but one of them grabs hold of her tail as she darts past, and she stumbles.**

"Oh, gosh." Tristan shakes his head, "That whole thing would've been really awful."

"It was." Dylan says- or maybe Ryan?

**"You're hurting her! _Stop it!_" I scream.**

"**Go, Goat Girl!" cries Becca, and she and the Fab Four break into an impromptu cancan.**

I can't take it. How did I find that funny? How did anyone find it funny? It was mean and spiteful and just bad.

**The audience loves it.**

"Not all of them." Mrs. Wong says quietly. My mom doesn't talk at all. She's ashamed at my actions, and her actions and the whole situation. I don't blame her.

**Nobody's paying the least bit of attention to me.**

**It's Darcy Hawthorne who saves the day.**

"Always." Darcy grins, trying to ease the tension, "I rock."

**He jumps onto the stage from the front row, just as Sundance wobbles back up onto her legs and makes another bid for freedom. Standing quietly until she scoots past, he throws his coat over her and whisks her up into his arms.**

**I rush over to them both, sobbing.**

**"Its okay, Jess, it's okay." Darcy assures me, "I've got her- she's safe."**

"Thank god." Jess whispers.

"Yeah." I agree. I hadn't stopped to think of what could'e happened to Sundance.

**Mrs. Adams gestures frantically at Emma and the backstage crew and the curtains come down, mercifully concealing my humiliation form the flabbergasted audience.**

**And as it does, all I can think is, _I'm glad my mother wasn't here to see this._**

Courtney closes the book and doesn't look up from her lap.

I'm staring at the wall, kind of dazed, because I really can't look at anyone.

It was a long time ago, we've apologized to and forgiven each other, but I never really sat and thought about how it would feel.

It was so real to read it out like that. And after so many years, I can understand why people made a big deal out of it.

"Oh, god, Jess." I finally whisper, "I am so, so sorry."

"Really, it's fine." Jess assures me, ''It was a long time ago. You already apologized."

I shake my head. How can Jess till be such a good person? If it was me, I would have flipped out.

Megan is white,"We shouldn't have even thought about it."

"True." Jess says, "But you did, and it's done. And it's okay."

It's not. Not to me, but Mrs. Hawthorne hold up her hand, "I understand yuo two feel bad, and you've apologized. It is the past. We need to move on. It's been nearly 7 years."

My breath hitches. I stare, wide-eyed, around at my friends. At Cassidy and Emma, Jess and Megan.

Because Emma's mom was right.

Almost seven years.

11- we were eleven during that play, I think- and now 18?

"Whew." Mrs Delaney says, "Boy, do I feel old. And I still have 13-year- old twin boys."

Everyone lets out a shaky laugh.

"Well." Courtney says, "I guess, let's move on. Can I pick out the chit?"

"Sure." her mom passes her the bowl.

Courtney pulls out the first chit she feels, instead of rummaging around.

She gives us a mystical look.

"We are going to be reading a snippet from..." she gives a long pause.

We hold our breaths in nervous anticipation.


	7. Pg 52- 53 (Home For The Holidays)

**Hey guys!**

**Wow, it's been a while. I've spent forever perfecting this chapter, so hopefully, it's a worthy come-back.**

**It's a bit shorter than usual, but I hope you like it!**

**Enjoy! And please add #Finally to your comments. Thank you, and the HUGEST hugs to all the people who have been commenting and reading my story even when I wasn't updating. You guys are my biggest driving force.**

**-Estelle**

* * *

**Home For the Holidays, pg. 52- 53. (Jess's P.O.V.)**

"We're going to be reading a snippet from..." Courtney sucks in her breath, "Home For the Holidays! It's book number...five!"

The rest of us slowly exhale. Book five. Which means...

"I have a chance of my point of view being read." Becca says faintly, "Oh no."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad." Theo says soothingly, but I do notice a glint of uncertainty in his eyes.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I was you." Cassidy and Darcy say at the same time. Emma snorts.

I stare at them, amused. They're more alike than any of us cared to contemplate. They grin at each other as Becca glares at the room in general.

"Let's hope the odds favor you." Mr. Hawthorne says, "Phoebe, the book? Page number?"

"Mmmhmm. Let's see..." Mrs. Hawthorne closes her eyes and flips through the book from the backside. She stops randomly at a page and peers at the number, "52."

My mother leans over her shoulder, "Well, that shouldn't be too difficult. Take it from here to here." she points at to different areas on the book, "It'll be short and sweet. And anyway, this is all that's marked readable."

"Yes, that should work." Emma's mother nods, the other moms following suit.

"Girls...here is...Megan's point of view!" My mom announces grandly.

Megan groans, "What?! Again? I've already had my turn!"

"It's not about turns." Cassidy says cheerfully.

"Well, you've just been lucky." Becca says, equally cheerful, "Like me."

"Shut up." Megan snaps.

"Don't worry sweetheart. Nothing too wrong. It's only one and a half pages." Mrs. Wong says comfortingly.

"Hold on!" Becca's mom orders sharply, and, of course, everyone falls silent, "Repeat the page number!"

"Book 5, page 52, paragraph 2, to page 53, paragraph 2. Megan's perspective." Mrs. Hawthorne rattles out expertly.

Mrs. Chadwick notes this down, "Page...fifty-two, you said?...ok...alright, then, let's begin. Who's turn is it to read?"

"How about our menfolk?" Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid suggests.

The menfolk shake their heads vigorously.

"Fine, then. Party-poopers." Gigi takes the fifth book, "I'll read. And, of course, Calliope," she adds hastily, as Mrs. Chadwick opens her mouth, "I won't forget to read the quote."

Becca's mom closes her mouth, satisfied.

**"Megan's point of view."** Gigi begins, **"Betsy and Tacy went downtown on their Christmas shopping expedition. This was a tradition with them. They went every year, visiting every store in town, and buying, at the end, one Christmas tree ornament."**

We all exchange once glance, the burst out laughing. That describes Megan and Becca to a T. Well, actually, they tend to buy things if they can afford it. But either way, it was a good quote.

Gigi skips to the marked page and starts reading again.

**To get back at Becca, I mentioned a tidbit I overheard at the football game yesterday. "Can you believe that Zach Norton volunteered to be the equipment manager for the Lady Shawmuts?" I tell her,**

"What?" Tristan says incredulously, "What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah." Megan answers brightly.

Tristan opens his mouth, then shuts it, instead glaring furiously at the book.

Darcy snorts, "Tough luck, dude. Guys follow her to Rhode Island, you don't have a chance."

Tristan rolls his eyes, "Already got one, mate."

**"He's down in Rhode Island this weekend, watching Cassidy play."**

"He took his post seriously." Cassidy shrugs, "So, yeah..."

"Yes, but that's besides the point." Tristan says hotly, "It's ridiculous that he would follow you to a different state to watch you play hockey."

"Please." Simon says dryly, "You flew to a different continent because you missed her."

Tristan scowls at nothing in particular.

Gigi takes this as the cue to continue reading.

**Becca's face clouds. She obviously hasn't heard this, but she pretends she has. She hates it when other people know stuff before she does, even me. "Yeah, what's up with that?"**

"Exactly. Exactly." Tristan says under his breath.

**I feel really mean all of a sudden, because I know how much Becca likes Zach, and it's pretty obvious that even though he asked her to Spring Formal last year, he doesn't like her back.**

"Thanks, Megs." Becca says lazily, "Way to make me feel special."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Megan protests.

"I know, just kidding." Becca assures her.

** Not the way Simon likes me, which has been kind of hard for her to swallow.**

Simon hugs Megan closer.

**I've tried telling Becca that Zach is just one small fish in a very big pond called Alcott High, and there are plenty of other boys out there, who would be thrilled if she'd pay them some attention- like Third, for instance,**

"Yeah. Third." Stewart says innocently.

"He's dating my cousin now." Tristan says, "Annabelle."

We all exchange a glance and nearly burst out laughing, but we manage to contain it.

**who is the nicest guy of the world, even if he is a little bit of a goofball- but she's totally stuck on Zach Norton. And she's not happy that he's spending so much time this year hanging out with Cassidy.**

"Nor am I." Tristan snaps at the book.

"It's a book, Tristan." Simon says.

"He's following her! It's like she's stalking her or something!" he answers irritably, "What's his problem?"

**I'm still not sure where Cassidy fits into all this.**

"Neither am I." Cassidy shakes her head, "I just get dragged into everything. Seriously."

"It's a talent." her mother says wearily.

** By the end of last school year, we all thought she liked Simon's brother, Tristan.**

Tristan just about glares daggers at the book.

"I _did._" Cassidy whines, "When I left England, all you said was 'Catch you later, Cass.' Whose fault was it?"

"That's not what I said!" Tristan denies.

"Yes, it was."

Tristan looks thoughtful, "Okay, maybe it was, but what does that have to do with anything?"

I slap my forehead. Even the biggest gentleman can be stupid.

Megan and Becca shake their head in disapproval, but the other guys look confused.

"What's wrong with that?" Theo asks.

Emma sighs, "Never mind. Go on, Gigi."

**Every time I ask Simon about it, though, he just shrugs and says his brother is "awfully closemouthed about these things."**

"See." Cassidy says triumphantly.

"I wasn't 'awfully closemouthed.'" Tristan says stubbornly, "I was thinking things through. While this Zach character followed _my_ girlfriend around America."

"Tristan!" we all chorus exasperatedly. Somehow, I actually did peg him as the slightly jealous type. I know he'll be sayig stuff like this now, but when he sees Zach again, he'll be as polite as ever.

**I don't know when Cassidy would have time to squeeze in a boyfriend anyway.**

"Agreed." Cassidy and her mom say in unison.

** She barely has time to breathe, what with elite hockey and Chicks with Sticks. Plus, sophomore classes are hard- a lot harder than freshman classes were. Especially math. Cassidy and I are in the same Algebra II class, and if it weren't for Becca's brother, Stewart, who tutors us both, we'd be in big trouble.**

"True." Megan says.

"Thanks, Stewart." Cassidy adds.

"That wasn't so bad, was it, sweetheart?" Mrs. Wong asks her.

"That's it?' Dylan asks, surprised, "It was pretty short."

"Well, either way, we're moving on to the next snippet." Ryan points out.

"That's right, we are." my mom says, ruffling his hair, "And can I do the honors of choosing the little slip of paper."

"Of course." Mrs. Hawthorne hold out the bowl.

My mother rummages around, and finally pulls out a 'little slip'.

"Well, the next book is..."

I close my eyes, not knowing whether I'm really ready to find out.


End file.
